EPW Journal Article - Estimating the Impact of COVID-19 in India from Life Insurance Claims

Economic PolicyPublic Health
Written By Guest User

This paper was originally published in the journal Economic & Political Weekly.

Abstract

The data on the death claims settled by Indian life insurers is used to estimate the impact of Covid-19 in India in 2020 and 2021. A conservative estimate of 0.56 million missing death registrations is reported for 2020. An estimate of three million additional deaths in 2021compared to pre-pandemic year 2019 is also reported. This estimate far exceeds the government’s official estimate of 0.481 million Covid-19 deaths during this period.

The authors would like to thank Murad Banaji, Pranay Kotasthane, and Suman Joshi for their helpful feedback on an early draft of this article.

Authors

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Mihir Mahajan
Mihir Mahajan

Mihir Mahajan is an Adjunct Fellow at Takshashila and is the Chief of Staff at IP Spring LLC, a boutique US law firm that specializes in intellectual property matters. Mihir’s experience includes developing IP strategy, managing patent portfolios, patent transactions, and preparing and prosecuting patent applications.

Shekhar Sathe
Shekhar Sathe

Shekhar Sathe is a banking and finance professional based in Mumbai. He is currently the director at Infinitum Production Pvt Ltd. He has spent a majority of his career as an investment banker with Kotak Mahindra.

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