More Stories

Informist, Monday, Apr. 27, 2026

 

By Shweta

 

NEW DELHI - Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd. is expected to see a sharp year-on-year increase but a significant sequential fall in net profit for the March quarter, according to brokerages tracking the insurer. The company's bottom line will rise because of investment returns, YES Securities (India) Ltd. said in a report. The sequential fall in net profit is likely because of unfavourable base effects and the impact of the war in West Asia, the brokerage said.

 

The health insurer's net profit for the March quarter is estimated to rise multifold on year to INR 661.75 million from INR 5.1 million, according to an average of estimates from four brokerages. Sequentially, the bottom line may decline by over 48%. The estimates range widely from a high of INR 1.02 billion from Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. to a low of INR 45 million from JM Financial Institutional Securities Pvt. Ltd.

 

The quarterly earnings are likely to have been affected by the war in West Asia as standard policies do not cover injuries or illnesses caused by military conflict. "The uncertainty generated by the war may have contributed to a meaningful slowdown in business for insurers in the second fortnight of Mar 2026," Emkay Global Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. said in its pre-earnings note. The brokerage expects new business growth to have slowed for health and life insurers during the March quarter. A quarter ago, the company's bottom line had taken a hit after the government exempted health and life insurance policies from goods and services tax.

 

Star Health is expected to report a rise of over 15% on year in its net premium income to INR 43.86 billion for the March quarter, according to the average of brokerage estimates. The net premium income was INR 37.98 billion in the year-ago quarter and INR 42.50 billion in the December quarter. The highest estimate for the company's net premium income is INR 46.11 billion from Emkay Global. The lowest is INR 39.71 billion from YES Securities.

 

YES Securities sees Star Health's net earned premium contracting sequentially "despite growth in gross direct premium income, due to the seasonal trend of very high proportion of fresh premium in the fourth quarter, which leads to low earned premium". Annually, premiums are expected to see healthy growth driven by the GST exemption-led momentum in the health insurance segment.

 

Star Health received a total of INR 59.66 billion in premiums in the March quarter, according to the insurer's monthly premium data. Headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the company offers services and products in health, personal accident, and overseas and domestic travel insurance.

 

The insurer's sales are likely to grow 17% on year and 30% on quarter to INR 60.17 billion for the March quarter, Emkay Global estimated in its earnings preview. However, the earnings before income, tax, depreciation, and amortisation are estimated in the negative at INR 1.82 billion, it added.

 

The insurer is likely to see a rise in underwriting loss to INR 1.39 billion for the March quarter, from the loss of INR 1.25 billion reported for the trailing quarter. The sequential increase in underwriting loss is due to seasonality, YES Securities said. However, the underwriting loss is expected to moderate on year. Star Health's underwriting loss for the March quarter a year ago was INR 2.7 billion.

 

The claims ratio is also likely to moderate to 66.7% in the reporting quarter from 69.2% in the year-ago period, according to Motilal Oswal. The health insurer's combined ratio is projected to improve to 96.1% from 99.2% a year ago, supported by better loss ratio and expense ratio. The loss ratio is the amount paid out in claims to policyholders versus the premiums earned from them. The commission ratio is likely to remain largely stable at 15.9% at the end of March, the brokerage said.

 

Friday, shares of Star Health closed 1% lower at INR 512.65 on the National Stock Exchange. The stock is down nearly 14% since the company reported its December quarter earnings on Jan. 28. It will report its March quarter results Tuesday.

 

All seven brokerage reports on the company available with Informist have a "buy" or equivalent recommendation on the stock with an average target price of INR 544 per share. This is over 6% higher than the current market price.

 

Following are the March quarter earnings estimates, in INR billion, for Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. from four brokerages in descending order of the net profit estimate:

 

Brokerage	Net Premium Income	Net Profit
Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.	44,806	1,023
Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd.	46,111	828
YES Securities (India) Ltd.	39,713	751
JM Financial Institutional Securities Pvt. Ltd.	44,819	45
Average	43,862	661.75

 

End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.