For stereotypical ‘old age homes’ diffusing into ‘retirement homes’ and ‘premium senior living facilities’, elder care in India has come a long way. Breaking through the societal stigma and misconceptions around it, the bigger battle that, at least in bigger cities, the business is now getting into differentiation.
Enter anything from ‘rehab’ to ‘assisted living’ to even ‘post-surgery care’ and temporary care. And if you can’t stay away from your offspring but yet want to give them privacy, there are even new trends like intergenerational projects!
A recent JLL study says India’s senior population is set to grow from 15 crore presently to over 34 crore by 2050. According to another study, this time by real estate consultant Colliers, India’s senior living sector is currently valued at 25,000 crore rupees — and set to blow up to about 67,000 crore by the end of this decade.
“Assisted living in India is a mix of both rehab and assisted living. Demand for both is increasing,” said Ankur Gupta, joint managing director of Ashiana Housing, one of the leading senior living facility operators in the country.
For long, old age was a bleak period for many Indians, relegated to living with children and their (often) welcoming spouses. Old age homes, mostly run by religious trusts or ashrams by spiritual sects, were the only option.
Even when professionally run senior living options started mushrooming in the country, the Southern part of the country was a leader in this respect; there were myriad issues, mainly of perception, to be battled. Sending parents to a retirement home was a social embarrassment for children and many held back their parents to near-deprived lives with themselves due to these misplaced notions of ego and responsibility.
“It is one of the biggest misconceptions that it is the children who take the call on sending their parents to senior living facilities. It is not. It is the parents who themselves take this decision, out of all the options available to them,” quipped Gupta.
While next-gen migration and longevity due to better healthcare in southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala saw elder care facilities mushroom first in that part of the country, senior living facilities have taken off in the last decade or so in the rest of the country. Top players include the likes of Max Antara, Columbia Pacific, etc. Bhiwadi, an otherwise industrial town on the outskirts of Delhi NCR, has become a centre of sorts for it, with many senior living facilities established there — land prices are not as steep as in Delhi or Gurugram, there is passable greenery, and good hospitals are close by.
Yet, even with the establishment of the new model — retired well-to-do couples buying and moving to such senior living which gave them independence and a kind of community living that specifically catered to their needs (ambulance on standby, nurses on duty, doctors who do the rounds and housekeeping and food options available if needed), the one-size-fits-all model discounted other needs — for those older and needing full-time care, in many cases medically specialised one, or as the name suggests, post-operative care etc.
“Some people come for a short-term stay, or maybe after a procedure, say those who get a knee replacement done,” explained Gupta, “They don’t want to go home, they will come and stay with us for 2 months or whatever, get their post-ops done. Or to give another example, couples in their sixties who have parents who are 90 or 95. When they travel, they come to us, “Can you keep them for 2 weeks until we’re back, for us to be mentally (at peace)?”
While these are mostly temporary arrangements — sections within existing senior living centres mainly to cater to residents there who might have some medical emergency and the likes, Gupta now feels it is time it is looked at as a serious growth market.
“If senior living is a ‘want’ based product, assisted living becomes a ‘need’ based one. My belief is that assisted living is growing. In fact, it is actually a question before our board, whether we should concentrate on assisted living — it’s a call we need to take right now.”
A counterbalance to the spiking need for this service, which actually provides higher turnover, is the dearth of trained professionals well-versed with the specialised needs such residents might have. There is also the need to offer more differentiated services, from a permanent assisted living facility to rehab or even pure short-term post-procedure convalescence.
In fact, Anantharam Varayur, co-founder of Bengaluru-based Manasum Senior Living breaks down the new differentiated categories of senior living further — from more personalised, post-operative care to ‘memory care’, where qualified help is at hand for residents suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s etc, palliative care to give comfort during the last days of life & short stays if family is travelling.
“Inter-generation projects are gaining traction where seniors are part of a larger community of youngsters and still maintain privacy in their own tower,” said Varayur. Southie realty biggie Puravankara has many projects, especially in Bengaluru, modelled on this formula.