Bengaluru 6th December 2024: Financial awareness is the key to the growth of the senior care industry in India, several experts opined during roundtable discussions at the 5th edition of the ASLI Ageing Fest—a flagship event organised by the Association of Senior Living India (ASLI), the umbrella body for India’s senior care industry—in Bengaluru on Friday.
At roundtable discussions focusing on ‘Financial Freedom in the Silver Years’, ‘Investing in Senior Care: The Private Capital Opportunity’, and ‘Technology & Seniors, Is AgeTech for Real?’, experts from the banking, real estate, technology, and venture capital fields shared their opinions on how the industry, currently a $7 billion market growing at 20%, could expand by 2030 to cater to the nearly 135 million senior citizens in India today.
Highlighting financial institutions’ roles, Mr. Shailesh Mehta, President & Head, Retail Liabilities, Retail Trade, Forex & Third Party Products, Axis Bank Ltd., said, “In the past 25 years, the concept of reverse mortgages has seen little progress. The blame is not just on senior citizens but also on banking and financial institutions. Awareness today is very low on reverse mortgages, as the country also deals with the mindset of parents wanting to leave their homes to their children. However, if everyone comes together and creates awareness, we can achieve substantial progress in the coming years.”
Making a strong case for foreign companies bringing efficiencies into the Indian market, Mr. Nathaniel Farouz, MD, Senior Living Keppel Ltd., said, “Earlier, we had either hyper-luxury senior living or very basic options. Newer options must bring in efficiencies, and foreign companies can help. It’s about standardising processes to deliver personalised services, encouraging more people to consider senior living communities.”
The second roundtable focused on private capital opportunities in the senior living and senior care space to discuss the sector’s growth. Mr. Prashant Prakash, Founding Partner, Accel India, outlined what he would look for while investing in a company working in the sector. “I would look for transformational ideas, not just 1x or 2x better. We have the science, the IP, and the engineering capability to define some of these ideas. We need deep science, good engineering, and great entrepreneurs to take these ideas to market.”
Outlining the challenges faced by the real estate sector, Ms. Pavitra Shankar, MD, Brigade Enterprises Ltd., shared, “For a real estate developer, it is important to understand that while the core value is the same, the business model is very different regarding senior living. Developers need a lot of financial innovation to do this at scale. In our experience, people choose our senior living projects with the trust the brand evokes in mind. While many other operators can run the place, developers are sometimes reticent to lend their name to such a project.”
Mr. Karan Singh Sodi, Senior Managing Director, JLL, suggested clubbing senior living and senior care under the banner of affordable housing, “We see that the social stigma around senior living is slowly dissipating. However, the majority of the market, almost 60%, is still in South India. It needs to spread to all corners of the country. Pre-COVID, we were looking at 1,100 units of senior care living per annum in demand, and this will go up to 2.3 million units by 2030, so there is massive growth ahead for the sector.”
Opining that senior care as a sector is still under the radar in India, Dr. Rana Mehta, Partner and Leader Health, PwC, said, “We have had multiple businesses and success stories, but the sector is still below the radar. When private equity comes in, it capitalises on this growth. In my opinion, the technology aspect of senior care is very important and needs focus.”
Ms. Priya Mohan, Partner, General Catalyst, said, the senior care market had reached an inflection point. “Today, we have immense amounts of data and tech to provide continuous care. We have to focus on building solutions that empower our customers. I would personally consider investing in solutions that focus on customer insights.”
Another roundtable focused on AgeTech and technology for seniors. Moderated by Ms. Mrinalini Mirchandani, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company, the panel included diverse views from leaders in the AgeTech sector.
Commenting on the importance of technology, Mr. Ayush Agarwal, Co-Founder of Kubo Care, said, “As India becomes an ageing country, we will realise that technology is very important in terms of senior living and cannot be replaced with manpower. We are trying to bring global tech, ensuring seniors are healthy and safe within their own boundaries. We are looking to automate and reduce the dependency on manpower.”
Mr. Ganapathy GR, CFO of Machani Robotics, which is exploring a humanoid named RIA for eldercare, said, “Eldercare requires infinite patience, and we think a humanoid is the best way to address this need. While people generally view humanoids as offering physical assistance, we took a big bet on compassion and social use cases.”
Mr. Rohit MA, Managing Partner, Peer Capital, and Founder, Cloud Nine, spoke about investing in AgeTech, “There is often confusion about what kind of capital is needed in AgeTech. Many people think venture capital is the only way, but it is only a tiny piece of the puzzle. There can be policy-driven capital from the government or consumer-paid capital, which I believe is the best form of investment.”
The discussion also revolved around seniors and their adoption of technology. Mr. Agarwal pointed out that technology must adapt to the needs of seniors rather than the other way around. “Seniors are very tech-savvy. They use social media, WhatsApp, and other tools, but we must find solutions that work for them. Tech has to work for them, and we cannot force them to fit into our versions of technology.”
