US company ventures into old-age homes in India

Starting with Chennai, plans to expand to other cities.

By American Bazaar Staff

WASHINGTON, DC: Housing communities for seniors is common in the US, with entire towns built around that concept, especially in retirement states like Florida. Estimates say there are over 2,000 senior housing projects with over 500,000 residents, reports The Economic Times.

In India, the concept has never really taken off, but a US-based company is trying to change the traditional joint family household system there by partnering with a Tamil Nadu-based company to build an old-age care facility in the state, and expand it to other neighboring states.

US-based Signature Senior Living has formed a joint venture with Coimbatore-based Covai to build a 50-unit facility in Chennai. Signature is investing $2.5 million for the facility that will be ready for occupation by the end of this year.

And that’s not all. Signature, which is an established player in such facilities in the US, has asked NYSE-listed National Health Investors (NHI), a real estate investment trust with a focus on senior care homes, to carry out detailed analysis of the Indian market. Based on the findings, Signature and NHI will invest $50 million and try build similar facilities in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Coimbatore.

“There are more than 10 million Indians in America. We are getting mails asking what we can do for their parents in India, because they are not coming back for a while. And their parents do not want to move there,” said 63-year-old Steven Vick, chief executive of Signature Living. “We will tailor-made the concept to India the same way brands like Subway or McDonalds have done so successfully in India.”

Although the figure cited by Vick of Indians in America seems to be three times what the Census estimates, there is no doubt that for many NRIs, and US citizens of Indian origin who have elderly relatives back in India, it’s a much needed initiative.

Read the full story in The Economic Times here:

According to Jones Lang LaSalle India, housing for senior citizens is a $25-billion industry worldwide. In the US alone, there are over 2,000 senior housing projects with over 500,000 residents.

While India is relatively a younger country demographically in relation to the US and Japan, by 2025 it is estimated that there will be 173 million seniors above the age of 60 compared with 76 million now. The current estimated demand for senior housing in India is about 300,000 units.