Green Climate Fund (GCF) approves $20 million capital for Hyderabad’s Kshema General Insurance

Hyderabad based Kshema General Insurance Limited has announced receiving approval for capital infusion of USD 20 million from the board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), established under the historic Paris Agreement. The capital will be used to scale up financial resilience among small & marginal farmers and their families who constitute 86 per cent of India’s farmers, from climate change vulnerabilities.

The company said that GCF’s capital will be utilised to scale up its offerings to reach a wider number of uninsured farmers and their crops, augmenting its capacity to underwrite. It will be further leveraged to strengthen Kshema’s technological platform – Kshema Cognitive Engine – to offer not only curated insurance solutions to rural India but also to provide services like alerts on weather, proactive information on crop health to farmers apart from promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

Commenting on this development, Natraj Nukala, Founder, Kshema General Insurance Limited, said, “We are grateful to the board of GCF for seeing the value of our proposal in the context of adaptation to climate change. I also thank the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and the empowered committee members representing other relevant authorities along with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development for their continuous guidance and support.”

Kavita Sinha, Director of the Green Climate Fund’s Department of the Private Sector Facility, stated, “Harnessing Insurance for Climate Resilience in Indian Agriculture’ is a landmark for GCF – it is GCF’s first investment to support an innovative microinsurance solution enabling provision of crop insurance against climate vulnerability for smallholder and marginal farmers. This comprehensive solution includes early warning and capacity building of vulnerable farmers for sustainable agriculture practices.

“By partnering with national institutions to deploy innovative insurance solutions, GCF is helping protect rural livelihoods from climate shocks while promoting more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.”

The support from GCF boosts Kshema’s endeavour in following the Government and IRDAI’s recent policy directions to expand insurance access across Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns and complements national efforts to achieve ‘Insurance for All’ by 2047.