60% of Vehicles on Indian Roads don’t have Insurance

Nearly 60% of the vehicles plying on Indian roads are uninsured, most of them motorcycles and scooters. The data has been complied by General Insurance Council (GIC), which represents the country's general insurers.

In 2015-16, India had around 19 crore registered vehicles; of these, only 8.26 crore were insured, said GIC secretary general R Chandrasekaran on Monday.

The situation was similar in 2012-13, when the total number of vehicles, including two-wheelers, cars and heavy vehicles, registered in the country stood at 15 crore, of which only 6.02 crore were insured. The figures are alarming since India's roads are notorious for their high accident rate, with 2015 alone recording over 5 lakh road crashes.

Two-wheelers were involved in 29% of the accidents in 2015, cars and jeeps in 23%, and buses in 8.3%. Transport experts point out the need for every vehicle to be insured as those without an insurance cause "huge liability to mishap victims".