Magma HDI Construction Equipment Insurance

About Magma HDI

Magma General Insurance was incorporated in 2009, runs out of Mumbai, and holds IRDAI registration number 149. It spent years as Magma HDI General Insurance, a partnership with the German insurer HDI Global SE; when HDI exited in November 2023, the company dropped the ‘HDI’ and now trades as Magma General Insurance. It’s a private general insurer with a catalogue of more than 70 products and a footprint of over 95 branches serving several million customers.

Ownership is the live part of the story, so it’s worth stating carefully. The company is currently backed by Adar Poonawalla-led entities, and a change of control has been announced and is pending: a consortium involving Patanjali Ayurved and the DS Group agreed in 2025 to acquire the insurer, subject to regulatory approval. None of that changes the licence, the policies in force or the registration number — but it’s the kind of background a careful buyer likes to know.

Why insure with Magma HDI

The neat thing about Magma for this audience is the overlap between its engineering line and its motor line. It writes engineering covers — including CPM for construction plant — and it also writes commercial-vehicle and tractor motor insurance. That matters because a lot of Indian earthmoving and farm-adjacent equipment lives in exactly that overlap: a tractor-mounted unit, a road-going tipper, a backhoe loader that does a bit of both. An insurer that handles tractor and commercial-vehicle cover as well as plant cover can often keep your mixed fleet under one roof.

Add a long product list and a settled claims setup with 24×7 intimation, and you get a mid-sized insurer that’s comfortable with the practical realities of equipment that doesn’t fit neatly into one box. The ownership change pending approval doesn’t alter the cover you’d buy today.

Coverages available

The mainstay for owned or hired plant is Contractors’ Plant & Machinery (CPM). It responds to sudden, accidental physical loss or damage to the machines you list — at work, idle, or being moved for maintenance — from fire and allied perils, theft and burglary, accidental external damage, overturning, and natural events such as flood, storm and landslide. Each machine goes on the schedule with its own sum insured, usually on a current replacement-value basis.

Magma’s engineering suite also runs to Contractors’ All Risk (CAR) for civil works under construction and Erection All Risk (EAR) for installation and commissioning, with plant addable to those covers where it fits. Internal electrical or mechanical breakdown — which CPM leaves out — is met by separate Machinery Breakdown cover, and Electronic Equipment insurance is available too. For the road-going and tractor-based units, its commercial-vehicle and tractor motor policies sit alongside, which is directly relevant to a lot of earthmoving and construction kit. Useful CPM add-ons in this space typically include third-party liability, debris removal, escalation and an anywhere-in-India extension.

What's usually not covered

What it's likely to cost

There’s no single price tag, because the risk decides the rate. As a broad guide, annual CPM premiums in India usually fall somewhere between roughly 0.5% and 1.5% of a machine’s insured value. As an illustration only, a machine insured for ₹50 lakh might sit around ₹25,000 to ₹75,000 a year before GST. Your actual figure depends on the equipment type and age, the sum insured, where and how it works — hilly, flood-prone, mining and tunnelling sites rate higher — your claims history, the excess you accept, and the add-ons you choose. A higher voluntary excess lowers the premium. The only reliable number comes from a quote, which Desi Machines is happy to arrange.

How claims work

If a machine is damaged or stolen, tell Magma quickly — within a day or two — and lodge an FIR straight away for theft, burglary or any third-party loss. The insurer appoints an IRDAI-licensed surveyor to inspect the damage and assess cause and quantum. You can intimate a claim on the 24×7 toll-free line 1800 266 3202, and for motor claims there’s an online claim and pre-inspection status feature, with roadside assistance available too. Keep the documents ready: the policy copy, a filled claim form, registration papers where applicable, the FIR for theft, repair estimates and bills, and dated photographs with operating records. Where the insurer’s liability is clear, an on-account payment can be released ahead of final settlement so your work keeps moving.

24×7 claims: 1800 266 3202

Rules & paperwork worth knowing

Frequently asked questions