GST Exemption Driving Health, Term Cover Sales, Say Insurers

Mumbai: The government’s landmark reform to exempt term and health insurance policies from Goods and Services Tax (GST) is fueling sale of new policies say insurance companies.

Standalone health insurer Star Health Insurance said that it iswitnessing growth from all channels and from the younger age group.

Anand Roy, managing director and CEO, Star Health Insurance, said, "Star health insurance is witnessing a good increase in policy sales

after the GST cut. The growth is coming through all our channels,including brokers, agents , banks & digital . We are also noticing

that a large part of this demand is being driven by younger insurance buyers and through digital platforms."

“Nil GST on health insurance has been a powerful driver of demand for health insurance and is likely to increase penetration which has been stagnant,” added Roy.

Top insurance aggregator Policybazaar said that it has recorded its highest-ever traffic for health and term insurance since nil GST came

into effect. The current average demand surge from the pre-GST baseline (until September 2025) has surpassed even the spike last seen

during the pandemic years. While term insurance has recorded a historic 2.5 times surge after no-GST rule implementation, health

insurance has clocked a phenomenal 2.2 times increase in demand. The spike thereafter has sustained momentum with health insurance demand up 1.7 times and term insurance up 1.8 times on the platform.

Parthanil Ghosh, executive director at HDFC ERGO General Insurance said, “As expected, we have seen an increase in demand for health

insurance post Sept 22.”

The government reduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on individual health and life insurance premiums from 18 per cent to zero effective September 22.