A sales manager from Pune flies to Frankfurt for a three-day trade fair and ends up in hospital on day two. Within hours, someone has to arrange treatment, guarantee payment, rebook flights and tell the family. If the company has not planned for this, that someone is usually an HR executive working the phone at midnight Indian time.
Why your group health insurance policy is not enough?
Many employers assume their group health policy will take care of staff wherever they go. Most group health policies in India pay only for treatment in India, so an employee who falls ill abroad may have no cover at all. Business travel cover fills that gap. It is travel insurance arranged for work trips, and it protects two parties at once: the employee who travels and the company that sent them.
For the employee, the benefit is obvious. A hospital stay abroad can cost several lakh rupees, and nobody wants to pay that from personal savings because a work trip went wrong. For the employer, the benefit is less visible but just as real. A known premium replaces an unknown bill, and an assistance company handles the logistics.
There is a legal side too. Employee’s compensation is now governed by Chapter VII of the Code on Social Security, 2020, which came into force in November 2025 and replaced the Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923. Employers can be liable for injuries that arise out of and in the course of employment, which can include injuries suffered on a work trip. The Code sets out compensation. It does not find a hospital in Frankfurt or fly someone home.
What a business travel policy usually covers?
Corporate travel insurance is usually arranged in one of the two ways. A company can buy annual multi-trip cover for frequent travellers, where each trip is covered up to a maximum length, or it can insure employees trip by trip. Either way, the core is medical: emergency hospitalisation abroad, medical evacuation and repatriation of remains.
Around that core sit benefits aimed at the disruptions of business travel. These commonly include cover for trip delay, loss or delay of checked baggage, loss of passport, personal accident and personal liability. Some plans add a daily allowance during a hijack, or cover for burglary at the employee’s home in India while they are away.
The detail that matters most is the assistance service. A good policy gives thetraveller a 24-hour helpline that can locate a hospital, arrange cashless treatment where possible and keep the employee’s family informed. For someone on their first overseas assignment, that support counts for more than any limit printed on the schedule.
Why it matters to the employer
Duty of care is the obvious reason. A company that sends people abroad is expected to plan for what might go wrong, and a written travel policy backed by insurance shows that it has. It also protects trust. Employees notice how a company behaves when a colleague falls ill on a work trip.
Cost control is the less obvious reason. Without a company policy, employees buy their own cover, claim it back on expenses and often pick whatever is cheapest. Limits vary, records are scattered and nobody knows who is covered until something goes wrong. A single policy gives the finance team one premium, one insurer and one claims process.
Gaps worth checking
- Trip cancellation: Many policies pay for cancellation only for specified reasons, such as the traveller’s illness or a death in the family. A trip cancelled because a client postponed the meeting, or because the company changed its plans, is usually not covered. If the company wants that protection, it needs to ask for it specifically, and it may not be on offer.
- Business equipment: Baggage limits are often low for electronics, and a company laptop holding client data may need separate cover under the firm’s own property insurance. Check this before an employee flies out with expensive hardware.
- Personal time: Many employees add a few leisure days to a business trip. Some policies cover the whole journey, while others cover only the business portion, so confirm how those days are treated. Pre-existing conditions, adventure activities and travel to countries under official travel warnings may also be excluded.
Setting it up well
Start by listing who travels, where they go and how often. A company sending two people to Singapore each quarter needs something different from one with engineers posted to project sites overseas for months at a time. Ask insurers for the full policy wording, not just a summary, and check the visa rules of key destinations. A Schengen visa, for example, requires medical cover of at least €30,000.
Then make the policy easy to use. Every traveller should carry the policy number and helpline, and HR should know the claims process before anyone needs it. Review the cover each year as travel patterns change. Before each trip, send the traveller a one-page note with the policy number, the helpline and the claims steps, so the cover actually gets used when it is needed.
