Insure excavators, cranes and earthmoving plant with ICICI Lombard through Desi Machines — coverage, premium factors, claims and Indian norms explained.
ICICI Lombard General Insurance has been writing policies since 2001, when it began as a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Canada’s Fairfax Financial. It listed on the stock exchanges in 2017, and over the years Fairfax sold down most of its holding, so today it trades as a widely held private insurer with ICICI Bank as its anchor shareholder. It holds IRDAI registration number 115.
For an equipment owner, two things matter: reach and the strength of the balance sheet. ICICI Lombard is the biggest private general insurer in India by premium, with a few hundred branches backed by close to a thousand virtual offices and a garage network running into the thousands. When a high-value machine is on the line, that scale is reassuring — a large insurer can settle a big engineering claim without straining.
Two strengths make it a sensible choice for earthmoving and construction machines. The first is depth: this is not a motor insurer that dabbles in plant cover on the side, but a company with dedicated contractors’ and machinery products for both the construction phase and everyday operation. The second is how it handles claims. ICICI Lombard built one of India’s first video-survey tools, so straightforward damage can be assessed over a live video call instead of waiting days for an inspector to reach a remote site. For a fleet scattered across projects, anything that shortens the gap between damage and decision is money back in your pocket.
The workhorse is the Contractors’ Plant & Machinery (CPM) policy. It pays for sudden, accidental physical loss or damage to your listed machines — working, parked, or being shifted for maintenance — from fire, theft and burglary, accidental external damage, overturning, and natural events such as flood and storm. Each machine goes on the schedule with its own sum insured, usually on a replacement-value basis.
For project sites, ICICI Lombard also writes Contractors’ All Risk (CAR) for civil works and Erection All Risk (EAR) for installation and commissioning jobs, and plant can be folded into those covers where it fits. Internal electrical or mechanical failure — something CPM deliberately leaves out — is handled by a separate Machinery Breakdown cover. Handy add-ons include third-party liability, owner’s surrounding property, debris removal, escalation, and an anywhere-in-India extension so the cover travels with a machine that keeps changing sites.
No equipment policy is a blank cheque, and knowing the edges saves arguments at claim time. CPM does not pay the excess you agree to on each loss. It excludes ordinary wear and tear, rust, corrosion and slow deterioration, and it leaves out consumables and wear parts such as tyres, ropes, belts and drill bits. Pure internal breakdown is out unless you have bought Machinery Breakdown. Also excluded: losses from overloading or pushing a machine past its rated capacity, wilful negligence, war and nuclear risks, and damage to a road-registered vehicle while it is out on a public road — that last one sits with a motor policy, covered further down.
There’s no single price, because no two machines carry the same risk. As a rough guide, annual CPM premiums in India tend to fall somewhere around 0.5% to 1.5% of a machine’s insured value. Purely as an illustration, a machine insured for ₹50 lakh might sit in the ₹25,000 to ₹75,000 range a year before GST. Where you actually land depends on the type and age of the machine, its insured value, how and where it works — hilly, flood-prone, mining and tunnelling sites carry a higher rate — your past claims, the excess you accept, and the add-ons you pick. A higher voluntary excess brings the premium down. The only way to get a real figure is a quote, and that is where Desi Machines steps in.
If a machine is damaged or stolen, tell ICICI Lombard quickly — within a day or two is the safe habit — and file an FIR straight away for theft, burglary or any third-party incident. The insurer appoints an IRDAI-licensed surveyor to inspect the loss and work out the cause and the amount; for motor-type incidents, its app and video-survey route can move things along faster. Keep the paperwork ready: the policy copy, a filled claim form, registration papers where the machine has them, the FIR for theft, repair estimates and bills, and dated photographs. You can report a claim on the toll-free line 1800 2666 or through the IL TakeCare app. Where the insurer’s liability is clear, an on-account payment can be released before the final settlement so your work doesn’t stall.
24×7 claims: 1800 2666
A few ground rules apply whichever insurer you choose. Only IRDAI-registered companies can issue these policies, and ICICI Lombard is one of them. The premium carries 18% GST — the September 2025 GST cut applied only to individual life and health cover, so commercial equipment insurance is still taxed at 18%, though a GST-registered business can usually claim it back as input tax credit. If a machine such as a mobile crane, dumper or certain backhoe loaders runs on public roads, it must be registered and carry mandatory third-party motor insurance on top of CPM; a machine that never leaves an enclosed site usually does not. And since your operators do hazardous work, an Employees’ Compensation (Workmen’s Compensation) policy is the standard way to cover injury or death on the job.
We're the link, not the insurer — we gather quotes from IRDAI-registered companies like ICICI Lombard and help you read what's genuinely covered before you decide.
Desi Machines is a facilitator that helps equipment owners connect with IRDAI-registered insurers. We are not an insurer and do not issue policies — cover, eligibility, premium and claim decisions rest with the insurer under its policy terms. Premium figures shown are indicative, not quotes, and 18% GST applies. Please confirm current terms with the insurer before you buy.
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