Insure excavators, wheel loaders and cranes with SBI General through Desi Machines. CPM, EAR, Machinery Breakdown, premium factors, claims and Indian norms.
SBI General Insurance was incorporated on 24 February 2009 and began operations in 2010. It is promoted by State Bank of India, which holds about 73.89%, with other shareholders including Premji Invest vehicles. The company is headquartered in Mumbai and is an IRDAI-registered non-life insurer.
Its branch count of around 182 understates its true reach. The real strength is bancassurance: SBI General taps into State Bank of India’s network of roughly 22,500 branches, so a machine working in a small town is rarely far from a touchpoint. It runs a cashless garage network of about 16,000 and ranks among the top six private general insurers. For an equipment owner, the appeal is simple — the backing of India’s biggest bank, and a settled balance sheet that can stand behind a large engineering claim.
A few things make it a sensible choice for plant and earthmoving fleets. The parentage is the headline: being promoted by State Bank of India brings a level of trust and stability that matters when you are insuring an asset worth tens of lakhs. The bancassurance reach is genuinely unmatched — with access to thousands of SBI branches, the insurer is within arm’s length almost anywhere your machines work, which is no small thing for a fleet spread across districts. Engineering is an explicit line of business here, not an afterthought, with a dedicated CPM product and its own proposal form. And for owners who already bank with SBI, keeping the equipment cover under the same group can make the paperwork that bit simpler.
The core product is the Contractors’ Plant & Machinery (CPM) policy, which SBI General offers as a dedicated cover with its own proposal form. It meets sudden, unforeseen physical loss or damage to your listed machines — 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, storm and landslide. Each machine is scheduled with its own sum insured, usually on a current replacement-value basis.
For erection and installation work, SBI General writes Erection All Risk, which covers the testing and commissioning phase of plant and machinery. Internal electrical or mechanical breakdown — which CPM keeps out by design — is handled by a separate Machinery Breakdown policy, a worthwhile gap-filler on high-value units. Common extensions include third-party liability, owner’s surrounding property, debris removal, escalation, and an anywhere-in-India basis so the cover travels with a machine that keeps changing sites.
Knowing the limits before a loss saves friction after one. CPM does not pay the excess you carry on each claim. It excludes ordinary wear and tear, rust, corrosion and gradual deterioration, along with consumables and wear parts — tyres, ropes, belts, bits, drills, fuel and lubricants. Pure internal breakdown is out unless Machinery Breakdown is in place. Damage from overloading or pushing a machine past its rated capacity is excluded, as is wilful negligence. War, nuclear perils, testing and pre-existing defects fall outside as well. And a road-registered vehicle damaged while out on a public road belongs with motor cover, not CPM — explained just below.
No single price applies, because every machine carries its own risk. As a rough guide, annual CPM premiums in India tend to fall between 0.5% and 1.5% of the insured value. Purely for illustration, a machine insured for ₹50 lakh might land somewhere in the ₹25,000 to ₹75,000 range a year before GST. The figure you actually see depends on the machine type and risk group, its age and condition, the insured value, and where and how it works — hilly, flood-prone, mining and tunnelling sites attract a higher rate. Your claims record, the excess you accept, the add-ons chosen, and the single-site-versus-floater decision all move it. A higher voluntary excess brings the premium down. The only real number comes from a quote, which is where Desi Machines steps in.
If a machine is damaged or stolen, report it to SBI General quickly — within a day or two is the safe habit — and lodge an FIR straight away for theft, burglary or any third-party incident. You can intimate and self-service a claim through the SBI General app or the online portal, and repairs on motor-type units run through its cashless garage network. The insurer appoints an IRDAI-licensed surveyor to assess cause and quantum on engineering losses. Keep the file ready: policy copy, filled claim form, registration papers where they apply, FIR for theft, repair estimates and bills, and dated photographs. Where the insurer’s liability is clear, an on-account payment can be released ahead of final settlement so your project does not stall while the survey is completed.
A few rules apply whichever insurer you pick. Only IRDAI-registered companies may issue these policies, and SBI General is one, with a UIN on every policy. The premium attracts 18% GST — the September 2025 GST reform dropped the tax to zero only on individual life and individual health cover, so commercial engineering insurance such as CPM stays at 18%, though a GST-registered business can usually recover it as input tax credit. If a machine like a mobile crane, dumper or certain backhoe loaders runs on public roads, it must be registered and carry mandatory third-party motor insurance alongside CPM; a unit that never leaves an enclosed site generally need not. And because construction is hazardous work, an Employees’ Compensation (Workmen’s Compensation) policy is the standard way to cover operators and crew for injury or death on the job.
We're the link, not the insurer — we gather quotes from IRDAI-registered companies like SBI General 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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