Home insurance
Compare home insurance for your house and belongings
For most families the home is the biggest thing they own, yet it is one of the least insured. Home insurance pays to repair or rebuild the structure and replace your belongings after fire, floods, earthquakes, burglary and other listed events. Tenants can insure their contents alone. Premiums are low compared with the value protected, and many lenders ask for cover on a home that secures a loan.
Your options
Types of home insurance
Structure cover
Pays to repair or rebuild the building itself. For owners, and often required on a mortgaged home.
Contents cover
Protects furniture, appliances, electronics and other belongings. Available to owners and tenants.
Comprehensive home cover
Structure and contents together in one policy.
Bharat Griha Raksha
The standard home policy with uniform terms across insurers, making plans easier to compare.
Cover
What is covered — and what is not
This is what policies of this kind commonly include. The policy wording of the plan you choose is what decides a claim.
Usually covered
- Fire, lightning and explosion
- Storms, floods, earthquakes and landslides
- Burglary and theft
- Riots, strikes and malicious damage
- Alternative accommodation while the home is repaired, with many policies
Usually not covered
- Wear and tear, and gradual deterioration
- Damage from deliberate acts by you or your household
- Jewellery and valuables above the policy's limit, unless declared
- Losses while the home is left vacant beyond the period the policy allows
Before you buy
How to compare home insurance quotes
Sum insured basis
Structure cover should reflect the cost of rebuilding, not the market price of the property, which includes land.
Valuables
Declare jewellery, art and expensive electronics separately so they are covered in full.
Policy term
Long-term policies spare you yearly renewals and can be timed to match a home loan.
Paperwork
Documents you will need
Insurers may ask for more depending on the plan and your answers on the proposal form.
To buy a policy
- Owner's or tenant's ID and address proof
- Property details — address, built-up area and construction type
- A list of valuables to be declared
To make a claim
- Policy number and claim form
- Photographs of the damage
- FIR, for burglary or theft
- Bills or valuation for damaged items
FAQs
Home insurance questions, answered
Is home insurance mandatory with a home loan?
Lenders commonly ask that the property securing the loan is insured against fire and natural calamities. You are free to buy that cover from any insurer, not only one the lender suggests.
Can tenants buy home insurance?
Yes. Tenants can insure their own belongings with a contents-only policy; the building itself is the owner's to insure.
Also compare
Other insurance
- Health insuranceHospital bills for you and your family, paid by the insurer — cashless at network hospitals.
- Term life insuranceA pure life cover that pays your family a lump sum if you die during the policy term.
- Car insuranceMandatory third-party cover, plus protection for your own car against accidents and theft.
Talk to us about home insurance
Leave your details and our team will call you back to go through the options. There is no obligation to buy.