Star Health gears up for ‘Bharat’ journey, to offer cover for outpatient expenses

Standalone health insurer Star Health & Allied Insurance Company Ltd is devising a new growth strategy under which it seeks to grow at a CAGR of 20 per cent during this decade to deepen its focus on Bharat (rural and semi-urban locations) and strengthen schemes and coverage for out-patient department expenses.

The company expects to grow at a CAGR of 20 per cent during this decade. Star Health is the largest private health insurer in India, with a gross written premium of Rs. 12,953 crore as of FY23. It had a market share of 34% in the retail health segment and 49 per cent among standalone health insurers.

“We are optimistic about our business on account of a convergence of a number of factors: a sustained increase in the Indian population and an extensively under-penetrated rural population now beginning to seek health insurance,” Anand Roy, Managing Director and CEO, said in the company’s latest annual report.

Star Health sees the next big opportunity for growth in rural and semi-urban customers. “During the last three years, marked by the pandemic, the Indian consumer has begun to recognise the need to insure one’s health; the fact that only 30 per cent of our gross written premiums in FY23 were derived from non-urban locations indicates an extensive untapped opportunity. The concept of health insurance has been indirectly ‘marketed’ by the pandemic,” he added.