By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, May 23 (IANS): The Reliance General Insurance Company-led consortium, which insured Air India's fleet including the Boeing 737 aircraft that crashed Saturday in Mangalore, may not be hit hard by the accident thanks to re-insurance, experts said.

The state-run Air India had opted for the consortium of four Indian private companies to insure its fleet in September last year. They reportedly insured Air India's fleet of 136 aircraft for $8.59 billion at a premium of $24.3 million.

"The Air India fleet is insured by four private companies -- Reliance General, Bajaj Allianz, HDFC Ergo and Iffco Tokio. Reliance General is the lead insurer," said T.A. Ramalingam, head of underwriting at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company.

The lead insurer had has transferred the majority of the risk to re-insurers.

"Normally, the damage to the Boeing Hull (aircraft) and the passenger liability for the insurers will be around Rs.150 crore and Rs.75 crore respectively," said an industry official, adding the per passenger liability will be around Rs.50 lakh.

However, the claims will be paid after the insurers make their own assessment of the loss and also as per their policy conditions.

Industry sources told IANS that bulk of the reinsurance of the Air India's portfolio was done with a Japanese insurer and the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) got 14 percent of the same.

"We have reinsurance arrangement for the aviation portfolio. The maximum hit our balance sheet will take will be around $6 million. Claims paid over that sum will be recovered from our re-insurers," M. Ramprasad, general manager of GIC, told IANS.

when asked for comment, an official with Reliance General confirmed the company was the lead insurer. "But, as a policy, we do not comment on individual policy details, nor do we specify customer claims."