Raheja QBE Construction Equipment Insurance

About Raheja QBE

Raheja QBE General Insurance was incorporated in 2007 as a joint venture between the Indian side — Prism Johnson, part of the Rajan Raheja Group, historically holding 51% — and QBE Insurance Group of Australia, holding 49%. It’s based in Mumbai and carries IRDAI registration number 141. It has always been a smaller, niche insurer with a deliberate focus on commercial and SME lines rather than mass-market retail, supported by more than 5,000 network hospitals and over 1,300 garages.

The headline development is on ownership. In 2026, QBE announced it would buy out its Indian partner to take full ownership of the company, subject to IRDAI and shareholder approval. Described properly, the deal is announced and pending — but if it goes through, it would make Raheja QBE one of India’s first fully foreign-owned insurers under the newer FDI rules. For an equipment owner, the relevant takeaway is continuity backed by a global commercial insurer; the licence and the cover you’d buy today are unchanged by a deal still awaiting approval.

Why insure with Raheja QBE

The reason to look at Raheja QBE for plant is depth in the right place. For a smaller insurer, it carries an unusually complete construction and engineering suite — and commercial lines are its home turf, not an afterthought. That focus tends to show up in how knowledgeably an account is handled: underwriters who understand contractors’ equipment, and a claims setup geared to commercial risks rather than only motor and health.

Then there’s the QBE connection. A specialist global commercial insurer standing behind your cover brings underwriting discipline and balance-sheet strength — useful comfort when a single machine on the schedule runs into tens of lakhs and a project’s plant adds up to far more.

Coverages available

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

Where Raheja QBE shows its engineering depth is the breadth of the rest of the line. It offers Contractors’ All Risk in both a commercial and a retail base form for civil works under construction, plus Erection All Risk for installation and commissioning jobs, with plant addable to those project covers. Internal electrical or mechanical breakdown — outside CPM by design — is covered by separate Machinery Breakdown insurance, and the suite extends to Electronic Equipment and Boiler & Pressure Plant cover. Common CPM add-ons in this space include third-party liability, debris removal, escalation and an anywhere-in-India extension so cover travels with a machine that keeps changing sites.

What's usually not covered

What it's likely to cost

There’s no fixed price, because the risk drives the rate. As a broad guide, annual CPM premiums in India usually run somewhere around 0.5% to 1.5% of a machine’s insured value. Purely to illustrate, a machine insured for ₹50 lakh might land in the ₹25,000 to ₹75,000 range a year before GST. The figure that applies to you turns on the equipment type and age, the sum insured, where and how it’s used — hilly, flood-prone, mining and tunnelling sites carry higher rates — your claims record, the excess you accept, and the add-ons you choose. A higher voluntary excess eases the premium. Because Raheja QBE underwrites commercial risk closely, a well-presented account with a clean history helps. The only real figure comes from a quote, which Desi Machines will arrange.

How claims work

If a machine is damaged or stolen, report it to Raheja QBE promptly — within a day or two — and file 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 toll-free line 1800 102 7723, and commercial-lines claims can be registered and tracked through its online portal, with online policy servicing available too. Keep the paperwork ready: the policy copy, a completed claim form, registration documents where applicable, the FIR for theft, repair estimates and bills, and dated photographs with operating records. Where liability is clear, an on-account payment can be released ahead of final settlement so your work isn’t held up.

24×7 claims: 1800 102 7723

Rules & paperwork worth knowing

Frequently asked questions