Mumbai: The city’s richest GSB Seva Mandal, King’s Circle, has received three competitive tenders to insure its Ganeshotsav mandap for a record sum of Rs 508 crore this year. The winner will be declared Tuesday after a fresh round of negotiation with New India Assurance which had insured the pandal last year.In 2025 the GSB pandal was insured for Rs 474 crore and in 2024 the figure was Rs 400 crore. Rising prices of gold and silver have been a major contributory factor to the mounting increase.Tenders were opened late Monday night. Mandal spokesperson Amit Pai said, “The largest leap of 33% has been in the ‘all risk insurance policy’ covering gold, silver and jewels. These precious assets are being insured for Rs 99.6 crore this year as compared to Rs 67 crore in 2025.”In 2024, the mandal had procured insurance worth Rs 43 crore for its gold and silver, and in 2023, Rs 38 crore. This year, a ‘standard fire and special peril policy with earthquake risk’ worth Rs 2 crore will cover furniture, fixtures and fittings, CCTV cameras, computers, utensils, grocery, fruit and vegetables and QR code scanners. Another 30 crore is towards public liability which covers pandals, stadiums and devotees. The largest segment worth Rs 376.5 crore involves personal accident insurance for volunteers, priests, cooks, footwear stall workers, security guards and valet parking personnel. This is much the same as the figure of Rs 375 crore in 2025. Another standard fire and special peril policy covers the premises, and is worth Rs 43 lakh.The Gowd Saraswat Brahman (GSB) Seva Mandal, Mumbai, was established on Vijayadashami day in 1951. Its Ganeshotsav celebrations began in 1955.
