72-hour claim cycle replaces 23-day process
How the Maharashtra State Crop Insurance Scheme integrated satellite evidence directly into its claims workflow — and caught $47M in fraudulent declarations in a single season.
Maharashtra State Crop Insurance Scheme
The state-run crop insurance scheme insures roughly 38 million smallholder farmers across Maharashtra against weather-driven yield loss. Premiums are heavily subsidized, and the program serves as a financial safety net for some of India's most climate-vulnerable farming communities.
THE CHALLENGEWhy the 23-day cycle was no longer viable
The traditional claim workflow depended on in-person field visits by adjusters, manual crop-cutting experiments, and multi-tier committee reviews. In 2023 alone, 41% of payouts were delayed beyond the legally-mandated 30-day window — leaving farmers without recovery capital for the next planting cycle.
Beyond cycle time, the legacy process was vulnerable to fraudulent declarations. A 2022 internal audit found that 18% of total-loss claims involved plots whose vegetation history clearly contradicted the assertion.
What "good" looked like to the customer
- Same-week payout for verified losses
- Audit-defensible evidence for every claim decision
- Automated fraud detection at intake
- Reduced dependency on physical adjuster visits
- Scalability for the next 100K+ policies
- Reinsurer-ready documentation
From notification to payout in 72 hours
Farmer reports damage
Via mobile app, call center, or village-level kiosk. Plot polygon auto-attached from the policy database.
Satellite evidence pulled
Latest Sentinel-2, Sentinel-1 SAR, and Planet passes over the affected plot are retrieved. NDVI, NDRE, EVI, and soil moisture are computed.
AI severity score generated
Composite score (0–1) with confidence intervals, trained on 8M+ hectares of ground-truth loss data. Comparison against 5-year baseline.
Claims handler review
Evidence pack presented to claims handler with auto-flagged anomalies. 70% of claims auto-approved based on score + history.
Payout authorized
Funds disbursed via direct bank transfer. Evidence pack archived for 7-year audit retention.
Farmer notified
SMS confirmation with claim reference, evidence summary, and bank transfer details. Service rating captured.
"What used to be a 23-day, adjuster-dependent process became a 72-hour, evidence-driven decision. We cut our loss-adjustment cost per claim by 61% in the first season, and our fraud-detection accuracy tripled."
What changed in the first season
- Cycle time: 23 days → 72 hours (94% reduction)
- Cost per claim: $47 → $18 (61% reduction)
- Fraud detection rate: 18% → 71% (4x improvement)
- Farmer satisfaction (NPS): +34 points
- Adjuster productivity: 3x more claims handled per FTE
- Reinsurer audit pass: 100% on first submission
What's next
The Maharashtra pilot is now expanding to three more Indian states — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka — with combined insured area exceeding 22 million hectares. The same workflow is being adapted for livestock, aquaculture, and parametric weather products.
The success of the program has also attracted interest from two major multilateral development banks, who are exploring it as a template for agricultural insurance reform in Sub-Saharan Africa.
See what 72-hour claims could look like for your portfolio
Send us your policy locations. We'll spin up a sandbox with your real data and show you the cycle-time impact before you commit.