Late morning at the Ashiana Utsav senior living community in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, a group of elderly men in their seventies has claimed its usual spot on the lawn. They are dissecting the day’s headlines — politics, economics, the state of the world. The afternoon sun is slowly catching up but the landscaped lawn echoes with boisterous laughs as someone cracks a joke. “We are all in our bachpan again,” says Colonel BL Sharma, 72.
Sharma retired from the Indian Army in 2011 but three months before that, he had already booked his place at Ashiana. “I had discovered this place while it was still under construction in 2005. Before my retirement, when I revisited it, I recognised some familiar features. All the facilities that we had in the cantonment were here. There were open spaces and an absence of hierarchy. There is no gender discrimination or domination or casteism. People live like buddies and help each other. It felt right,” says the Colonel. He sold his house in Bhagat Singh Colony nearby and moved in.
In Pune, at the two-year-old Pratiti Elder Care, a 72-year-old interior and textile designer is bent over a drawing book. “After my husband passed away, I managed to travel and was quite independent but, in the last five years, after Covid, my health has been in a bad shape,” she says.
She arrived at Pratiti a year-and-a-half ago and has settled down quite well. “My mind used to be agitated. Here, I got drawn to painting and sketching. There is an art teacher who conducts classes with the residents,” she says on the condition of anonymity. “I am doing complex zen art, which I was totally unaware of when I was working as an interior designer in a firm in Mumbai. These things have been useful for my knowledge and calmed me down. It has given me a lot of peace,” she adds.
Her sons and their wives, who live in the UK and the US, had not liked the idea that she wanted to stay in a retirement home. “I told them that I didn’t feel like I was going to a strange place. It is true that care homes have a taboo but it depends from person to person, how you take it. In the US, my sons have some friends, whose parents are staying in care homes,” she says.
Many Indians like her are shaking off an age-old stereotype to embrace senior living. Opting for a retirement home is emerging as a lifestyle choice, marked by affluence, self-regard — even autonomy — and a high standard of living. In a sweep of the last five years, the senior living sector has moved from the margins of society to becoming one of its talking points.
A resident in Pratiti Elder Care, Pune
The silver tsunami
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Senior living comprises, primarily, independent residences for seniors — homes that seniors can own or lease. According to the Association of Senior Living India (ASLI), the senior care sector has reached US $10-15 million market size in the country and is likely to increase to US $30-50 billion in the next decade. “Despite 70 per cent of the seniors residing in rural areas, urban centres are experiencing surging demand for organised care services. All stakeholders in the industry are getting ready to handle this silver tsunami,” says Rajit Mehta, MD and CEO, Antara Senior Care, and Chairperson, ASLI.
At Pratiti Elder Care, monthly charges start at Rs 35,000. A resident says, “Look at the way people are joining this centre. When I came in, there was a waiting list. We are looking at this as a positive choice.” The monthly fee structure at Pratiti includes the cost of food, accommodation and psychosocial interventions, such as group activities, neuro-cognitive exercises, memory games and fine motor skills training. The accommodations here include single and double rooms, a five-bed sharing set-up and studio apartments. There is a doctor on call, nurses in residence, counsellors and caretakers. Residents can bring their own caretakers.
Other companies offer housing, ranging from Rs 60 lakh to Rs 3 crore. At Antara Residences for Seniors, the cost range is Rs 5 crore to Rs 8 crore; with the initial booking for 10 per cent of the total consideration amount. This includes a 2BR and multipurpose room to a 3BR and multipurpose room. The saleable area is 2,300 sq ft to 3350 sq ft. A spokesperson for Antara says that there is a charge of Rs 30,000 to Rs 45,000 per month. It covers common area maintenance services plus Antara Comprehensive Benefit, including 24/7 holistic health consultations by geriatric-trained on-site doctor, unlimited nursing consults, dedicated paramedics, emergency response team, tie-ups with nearby multi-speciality hospitals, senior-friendly gym, indoor all-weather pool, activities, yoga, spa, theatre, salon, personalised engagement calendar by their team and a concierge desk.
The Dehradun Antara facility has a leasehold model, but the residence can be nominated to the next of kin, who can occupy it without extra charge after the primary residents’ demise; the lease with Antara is extendable. However, the residents must be at least 55-years-old. In case apartments are willed to next of kin younger than 55 and they want to become a part of the Antara Senior Living Community, Antara can waive off the age cap in exceptional cases, or the apartment can be rented out; even a resale is possible.
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At Ashiana Utsav, on the other hand, there is a monthly maintenance charge which ranges between Rs 2,400 and Rs 4,500, for a 1 BHK to 3 BHK. Residents can hire their own help, though the Ashiana Utsav team also has a gated list of workers. The property can be sold in the open market and rented out to anyone above the age of 55. Unmarried daughters and other dependent individuals can live with the elderly. Children can visit their parents for a maximum duration of three months in a year.
The people we do not see
As with all population data in India, the number of senior citizens is staggering. India is famous as a young nation but one in every seven Indians will be a senior citizen by 2036. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment says that the elderly population is estimated to grow more than 100 per cent, from 100 million in 2011 to 230 million by 2036.
Mehta points at a parallel development. The Longitudinal Ageing Study in India shows that almost 27 per cent people in the top 10 cities were staying alone or with spouse. More and more children have migrated abroad or to other cities. It is in the cross-currents of a social churn that senior care living is coming of age in India. The acceptance is higher in the country’s prosperous regions, the south and the west. No longer a grudge purchase, senior living enrolment is about choosing a certain kind of lifestyle with safety and security over the older way of living.
Antara in Dehradun
The end as a beginning
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At Antara Senior Care, residents enjoy the company of one another, celebrate festivals, birthdays and anniversaries. Variations of this scene play out in most other facilities. Animesh Debnath says that he wanted to enjoy his second innings. He had searched for a shundor place and liked Snehodiya Old Age Home in Kolkata, an elegant property developed by the West Bengal state government’s Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation. “I have been able to fulfill my dream. Had I not come here, I would never have realised that life’s second innings could be so beautiful,” he says in a YouTube video testimonial on the Snehodiya website.
Two sides of the coin
Popular culture, historically an effective way to feed the imagination with new ideas, still looks upon senior living as a social blister, a crack in the picture perfect big fat Indian family. During Durga Puja in 2024, the Suruchi Sangha pandal in New Alipore protested the malaise of old age homes through art. Some visitors said that senior homes were a necessary evil, but not too much of it, please.
The market tells the story that art will not. Marquee names, such as Hiranandani, DLF, Pioneer, Satva and Prestige, are keen to enter the senior living segment. Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Pune are hubs. The NCR and parts of Ahmedabad are emerging hotspots.
The quality of services, which will improve as competition increases, has changed attitudes of children and families as well. “Earlier, people would mock children saying, ‘Aai vadlanna vrudhashramat takla’, which meant you have abandoned your parents. Today, keeping your parents in a retirement home means that you are concerned about their safety and are looking after them,” says Arjun Sathe, programme coordinator at Pratiti Elder Care.
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Ajit Varghese Abraham agrees. An only child who lives in Singapore, he is advocating to other families the benefits of care homes for elderly parents. His father, Abraham Varghese, 85, and his mother, Beta Anna Abraham, 79, moved to Chacko Homes in Ernakulum in December 2025. “I wanted to ensure a good quality of life for my parents,” he says. Ajit’s parents-in-law have been in a retirement facility for more than 15 years. He has family and friends who are already residents of such places around the world. “The concept is not new. Many institutions are already tapping on this as an alternate career opportunity for the young to explore and advance themselves,” he says.
Meanwhile, at Ashiana Utsav, Geeta Bhalla, 76, is tending to the cineraria, petunia, calendula and other plants she has planted in the lawn. Her 55-year old daughter Smriti Varma, too, has bought an apartment in the community. “My mother is the resident horticulture manager. Whenever I call her, she is busy. When I ask her, ‘Don’t you miss your children?’ she says that there is no time for that. They have so many activities that keep them busy,” she says with a laugh.
