The December 2015 floods in Chennai revealed poor insurance coverage among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). While there was significant demand for insurance products in the aftermath of the floods, in most cases, the insurance that was held by the MSMEs poorly covered their losses and did little to shorten recovery times. Insured firms received settlements that were far below what they had claimed, i.e. there was a huge mismatch between what firms expected to receive under their policies and the amount insurance providers approved.