Insurance stocks rallied on Thursday led by Star Health which jumped over 9 per cent after the government announced that life and health insurance premiums will no longer attract goods and services tax (GST). Following the 56th GST Council meeting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that all individual life insurance products including term ULIP and endowment policies along with subsequent reinsurance are now exempt from GST. Insurance Stocks Rally Shares of Star Health and Allied Insurance Company skyrocketed 9.35 per cent Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company zoomed 9 per cent ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company jumped 5.70 per cent ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company rallied 5 per cent Life Insurance Corporation of India climbed 5 per cent HDFC Life Insurance Company went up 4.90 per cent and SBI Life Insurance Company surged 4.88 per cent on the BSE. While the direct beneficiaries include consumer auto cement healthcare and insurance sectors the second order beneficiaries in terms of growth will be retail banks & NBFCs Rahul Singh CIO-Equities Tata Asset Management said. No GST On Health & Life Insurance All individual health insurance policies including family floater policies and policies for senior citizens and reinsurance thereof will also be exempt from GST she said. Since its inception in July 2017 GST at the rate of 18 per cent is levied on premium paid towards health insurance and life insurance. We will make sure that companies pass on GST rate reduction and make insurance affordable for the common man and increase the insurance coverage in the country she said. She further said the new rates would be effective from September 22 the first day of Navratri. Some of the key sectors that stand to benefit from this are insurance FMCG automobiles agriculture equipment cement consumer durables apparel footwear QSR and retail Pranav Haridasan MD and CEO Axis Securities said.  (With Inputs From PTI)