Aging Gracefully: The Rise of India’s Elderly Care Market

 Amid India's fast-changing culture, the country faces a growing need for specialized senior care. As cities grow rapidly, traditional joint families are breaking apart, leaving many elderly people separated from their younger relatives. This change reveals a crucial need for comprehensive patient care and elderly facilities. Eldercare goes beyond assisted living. While assisted living centers have become popular in India, they aren't the only option. Many individuals are opting for home-based support instead.

Support services for elderly care are still lagging behind this immense demand. Equally crucial is the need to raise awareness about enabling older adults to live dignified, independent lives post-retirement. While some seniors thrive in their golden years, many do not. Often, older adults face loneliness as family members move away and life circumstances change, disrupting old routines. This is especially troubling because loneliness is a major factor contributing to declining mental health. Inspiring startups and brands catering to the elder care industry are working hard to fill this gap. Leading names like Zorgers, Silver Talkies and Emoha have set trends in this industry and are now leveling up by offering services pan-India through fruitful franchise partnership programs for their business investors and clients.

Talking about the inception and potential in elderly care, Nidhi Chawla, Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder, Silver Talkies, says, “Silver Talkies has been a pioneer in active aging as we entered the space at a time when no one was talking about active engagement and tackling the loneliness and isolation issues of older adults. Our focus on improving the social and emotional well-being of older adults has had a positive impact on their physical and mental health too, hence elevating their holistic well-being. Post-Covid, we pivoted into being a pan-India community and engagement platform for older adults, running a wide variety of sessions online and offline. This is when we created a private limited company and expanded our reach beyond Bangalore. Today we pursue a hybrid model offering opportunities for both online and offline engagement to our community members. They continue to learn, interact, and engage through online sessions, attend weekly classes like yoga, pranayama, Tai Chi, dance, language, bhajan, technology learning, etc., from the comfort of their homes, and also meet their friends at the Silver Talkies Club every 1-2 months at the city-chapter meet-ups.”

A Gurgaon-based brand Emoha also provides personalized senior care services including health care, emotional support, and daily assistance to elders at the comfort of their home and is also actively seeking partners pan-India for scalability.

Another leading brand, Zorgers, a healthcare service provider, is transforming the way the home health care industry works. For more than a decade in operation, Zorgers’ success is seen through a high turnover of existing client base (50,000+), testimonies from repeat clients, and 30 million+ hours of caregiving to date. Talking about specialization in offering homecare services for patients and elderly care, Varun Gupta, Founder, Zorgers says, “Zorgers brings professional healthcare services and helps loved ones heal, at the comfort of their homes, with dignity and compassion. With an expanded network of the best healthcare personnel in the Northern region, we have strived for the delivery of quality medical care, wherein our services and equipment are constantly monitored and continuously upgraded. We follow the best practices in medical care and maintain international protocols and operating procedures. Zorgers takes pride in having served over 50,000+ patients across India through us and our franchise partners maintaining the highest standards of customer service.”

Talking about its presence in India presently, Nidhi says, “We currently have active city chapters in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi/NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune. This multi-location presence has allowed our members to find multi-city friendships which have expanded their social networks beyond their immediate geographical boundaries. The hybrid model allows us to serve the needs of older adults across different decades of aging. The younger and more active older adults travel with us, and be part of our cultural showcases and physical meet-ups while the older and less active older adults continue to stay engaged and connected through our online sessions and classes. We also offer the latter group buddy support through volunteers, offering them assistance and companionship. We understand that as a person grows older their healthcare needs become more pertinent and we strive to meet these and other needs like financial and legal advisory, etc., through tie-ups with a curated set of partners.”

Adding to the easy accessibility for its clients, Nidhi adds, “We would continue to simplify accessibility while leveraging technology to scale up and positively impact the lives of seniors across the globe. Our vision is to be a global platform with city chapters, offering our engagement modules virtually while holding city meet-ups quarterly. We aim to be a one-stop solution for different needs of elders such that with each passing decade as the needs of elders change, they find all solutions within the Silver Talkies ecosystem, either created and delivered by the Silver Talkies team or a Silver Talkies partner. Currently, we are working on enhancing our value proposition and introducing the missing building blocks of the active aging framework. We envision an empowered society of older adults who have learned to take care of themselves and are able to age with grace and dignity.”

Why Invest in the Eldercare Industry?

Franchising in the healthcare and elderly care sectors presents a unique opportunity to enter a growing market with the backing of an established brand. By choosing the right franchise, entrepreneurs can benefit from a proven business model, extensive support, and the chance to make a meaningful difference in the lives of seniors and their families. For those looking to combine business success with a commitment to caring for others, these healthcare and elderly care franchises offer a compelling path forward.

On offering collaborations and partnerships, Nidhi says, “We believe in the power of collaboration and believe that each one of us should play to our strengths and partner for the rest. We partner with companies with services for our target group and having multi-city presence. We offer them visibility among our members and our members access to their services. Our engagement programs are available to our partners to offer their clientele as a value-added service and enhance their value proposition to their customers. Further, we are open to expanding into different cities through a revenue-sharing partnership model where our local partner will receive all required knowledge and assistance to run Silver Talkies chapters in their local cities. We will help them by onboarding partners and experts relevant to their geographies onto the platform and market their city chapters, give access to the tech platforms to run their chapters seamlessly.”

Zorgers is presently operating from 7+ locations pan-India. They have three company-owned and two franchisee-run centers so far and have their reach to cities such as Chandigarh, Panchkula, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Ambala, Zirakpur, Ahmedabad, Gurugram, Delhi, Pune, Kharar, Lucknow, Jaipur, Agra, Indore, Mumbai, and Aurangabad. When asked about the expansion and potential franchisees, Varun Gupta adds, “We are seeking partners pan-India. We prefer to have partners who have a background in healthcare services or someone from a service background.”

Franchising in the eldercare industry is not only a promising business opportunity but also a chance to make a real difference in the lives of seniors and their families across India.

FACTS ABOUT ELDERLY PEOPLE

 Population Ageing: 

• India is witnessing exponential growth in the number and proportion of elderly couple, coupled with a decreasing fertility rate (less than 2.0) and increasing life expectancy (more than 70 years). 
• The elderly in India currently comprise a little over 10% of the population,which translates to about 104 million. According to the United Nations Population Fund this demographic is projected to reach 19.5% of the total population by 2050.

• Major Key Findings:
  • Demographics and Trends:The elderly population (aged 60 years and above) constituted 8.6% of India’s total population in the 2011 Census, with approximately 103 million elderly individuals.
  • Health Status and Challenges: The transition from high to low mortality rates has shifted a substantial burden of disease to the older population.
    • The number of people aged 75 years and above is expected to increase by an astounding 340% between 2011 and 2050.
  • Rural Urban Divide: 71% of elderly persons reside in rural areas.
  • Life Satisfaction: Nearly 32% of the elderly reported low life satisfaction