Kathmandu, Sept 19: The economic fallout of the Gen Z protests is now hitting Nepal’s insurance sector hard. Non-life insurers are dealing with claims worth Rs 20.70 billion, showing the scale of losses from the September 8 and 9 violence.
Data from the Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA) shows 1,984 claims filed so far, mostly from private firms and property owners. Since public infrastructure was not insured, insurers are not exposed to those losses, except for government vehicles under third-party policies.
Individual companies are under heavy strain. Oriental Insurance has received claims totaling Rs 5.14 billion. Siddhartha Premier Insurance faces 258 claims amounting to Rs 4.93 billion, while Shikhar Insurance has 366 claims worth Rs 2.39 billion.
The shock has reached the state-owned Nepal Reinsurance Company (NRIC), which must cover Rs 11.77 billion in liabilities passed on by 14 insurers. Its largest exposures are tied to well-known businesses and institutions such as Bhatbhateni Superstore, Kantipur Media House, Ullens School, CG Impex, United Distributors, and the gold looting case at Rastriya Banijya Bank’s New Baneshwor branch. Claims have also come from Pokhara’s Bagaicha Hotel and Hotel Sarobar.
These figures show how the protest-turned-riot has strained the insurance industry and added a major financial dimension to its impact. As claims are settled, the real economic price of the GenZ uprising is coming into view, well beyond the burned buildings and destroyed assets left behind.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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