Retirement Communities in India Overview

More than 60% of retirement communities are focused in South India. Specifically around Kambathor, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. And since this concept is getting a little more interesting for the general public and people have started to recognize the importance of this concept, now see a lot of communities coming up across India. Even tier 2, tier 3 cities are also coming up with senior living communities across India. In addition to the physical security, there is a second level of security which takes care of the psychological tension. What would happen to me if I become dependent? Or what would happen to me if I have a medical emergency? And if they are preparing food for themselves. Usually they end up eating very monotonous food. They end up preparing too little food for themselves and too simple food for themselves that their nutritional requirements may not be taken care of. And especially for people who live alone, their appetite also goes down. How do they select a city? And what are the questions that they should ask so that they can narrow down to which kind of a retirement community that they want to live in? to be part of. There are some retirement communities who offer probably your cost of living per month would range anywhere from 15,000 onwards including food, again, depending upon the luxury segment, to 15,000 to maybe up to 2 lakhs. Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Desi Written. Today's topic is with an expert and I'm really excited to have Dr. Murali on our show. Dr. Murali has more than 20 years of experience with the senior care, senior living, helping builders on building the right living conditions for the seniors. and has much more experience. I'm really looking forward to this discussion as we have a lot of people who are interested in retiring in India. So with that, welcome Dr. Murali to the show. Thank you, Avinash. Thank you for having me here. I'm excited equally to be on the show. Thank you. That's great. So let's kick it off with a high level question in terms of currently in India, what are the different kind of facilities that are available so that people are clear about the terminology, right? I think there is still a little bit misunderstanding. So I want to start off with that. What are the options that are available? And if you can clarify what those are, I think that would be a good starting point. And then we can dive in. If you're relocating to India after years abroad, listen up. I have created something that will absolutely save you precious time that most NRIs waste while Googling. This is... based on my interaction with hundreds of people about their move back journeys and uncover the biggest frustrations NRIs face when planning their return. So I came up with something that can help. A 15-week email series, a free step-by-step roadmap to address these challenges and make your move back smoother and stress-free. Whether you're moving back for family, retirement, or visa-related reasons, we got you covered. Here is what you will get each week. Actionable tips to decide if moving back is the right choice. Strategies to plan your move back, whether it's from logistics, career, financial, tax planning. How to choose the best school for your kids. And we also have several checklists that help you with the move, from financial, logistics, and much more. This isn't just an advice, it's a carefully crafted roadmap to save you time, reduce stress, and help you make better decisions. Ready to plan your move with confidence? Click the link below in the description to join for free and start receiving actionable strategies right in your inbox. Absolutely. Avinash, compared to senior care and senior living facilities abroad, still broader terminologies are getting used in India. And sometimes the same terminology is used for multiple formats of senior living. But let me discuss about some of the commonly used terminologies and what kind of options that are available for seniors in India. Let's begin with a facility for seniors who are physically active, seniors who are cognitively active, seniors who are able to take care of themselves. They are in a position to make decisions. They are in a position to manage their lifestyle. So for seniors. such seniors, active senior living or senior living, in general, they use this term for active senior living. Senior living is a facility which has two segments or I would say two formats. There are senior living communities available in India which are on sale basis. So you can say there's a sale model. And also there are senior living communities or active senior living communities which are on rental model. So these are two formats that are available in this particular segment. And then there is a second category. This is for seniors probably who are physically a little frail due to age or due to some ailments or due to some diseases. So they have some challenges with their physical abilities. They may not be in a position to look after themselves. or the family has a challenge to have expert care for them. And also there are seniors who are cognitively challenged. So though abroad, there are two separate categories that are available for such seniors. One is called as assisted living and one is called as skilled care, skilled nursing care. Whereas in India, since it's still in developmental stage, both are clubbed together. called as either assisted living or care homes. So both are equally used terminologies in India. That's the second category that is available. And of course, a very small number of specialized care providers that are available in this field called as memory care or dementia care. This is for seniors who physically may be very active, physically may be capable or may not be capable as well. but they definitely have cognition related issues, memory related issues. So these are specialized care centers for elderly who have some other kind of dementia or allied health challenges. So these are basically categories that are available. Whereas abroad in developed countries, there is a... specialized category called as continuing care retirement communities or CCRC, which is not available in India as of now. But however, there are some developers or some retirement communities have both active living and assisted living. And in a way, that covers up for CCRC concept in India as well. So these are the options in broad that are available in India. And some of them are on sale basis and some of them are on rent basis. Got it. No, thanks a lot, Dr. Morley. So I think maybe let's focus on the active senior living, right? I mean, let's, we can focus on the, on that particular segment. So if we can talk a little bit of history from your 20 years of experience, like how that sector has evolved, where we are, like in general, talk about like the facilities availability in metros, tier two cities, tier three, you know, in general about like how this is evolving and kind of give us a high level picture of this particular, you know, communities and the lifestyle that would be very helpful to set the stage. Absolutely. Probably active senior living started in India simultaneously, you know, two, three different cities by different developers. In northern part of India, Ashana Housing Limited, they started their active senior living communities in Bivadi. in Delhi NCR. Way back in probably 2003 to 2007 was the period when the project was conceptualized and they started. Simultaneously at the same time, Paranjapai developers in Pune also started their active senior living communities. And then there was an NGO called Dignity Foundation started their first active senior living community. Very close to Mumbai, outskirts of Mumbai. And then some retirement communities started to emerge in Coimbatore. You know, Kovai Properties is one who started off some of the retirement communities in Coimbatore. So probably this was the period 2003 to 2007 when, you know, some single living communities started to kind of start their baby steps in India at that point of time. And slowly, I mean, that was the beginning. And slowly from those cities or those towns, communities started to spread across India. If you look today, there are some number of... for senior living communities in Delhi and CR. There are a few in Dehradun. There are a few retirement communities in Madhya Pradesh. There are a few retirement communities in Maharashtra, especially Pune being the hub of retirement communities for Maharashtra. And a couple of projects coming up in Mumbai area. And I mean... More than 60% of retirement communities are focused in South India. Okay. Specifically around Coimbatore, Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. So these are the cities where the majority of the senior living communities are present. And of course, Kerala also has some retirement communities of late. And since this concept is getting a little more... interesting for the general public and you know people have started to recognize the importance of this concept we now see a lot of communities coming up across India even tier two tier three cities are also coming up with senior living communities across India yeah that's great yeah so maybe just to I think there might be some pre conceptions, right? I mean, in terms of senior living, I think people think it's maybe not like an orphanage, but I think some people have a wrong notion about it. So I think it might help like, you know, there is such a broad range of even senior living, right? I think how much of services are provided, maybe if we can paint a picture, like, you know, just to have an understanding or, you know, put some of the facts straight, right? Hey, this is not like an orphanage, this is like an active senior living, lifestyle living or whatever. I think, you know, if you can share some insights in terms of the facts and also like the available services, right? So that people have a better understanding when they're talking about this active senior living. Yeah, great question, Navidash. You know, to begin with, maybe 20 years back when senior living started in India, people used to consider senior living as a, you know, synonym for old age homes. The moment we say old age homes, the picture that comes to mind majority of the people's minds is it's a charity driven or charity organized orphanage homes where you know seniors who have nobody else to look after will be sheltered so that is the picture generally people have but contrary to this senior living is a is a living option you know i would say option for people people opt to live in senior living communities for primarily for hassle-free life and for the lifestyle. When we say lifestyle, it comprises of your diet, your hassle-free living. So when you say typically when you live in a retirement community, sorry, when you live in any kind of housing communities, especially apartments, you will find a host of services that are available, like there is security that is available. and then common area maintenance that is available. There are some housing communities which also provide support for upkeep of the house. Like, you know, you need a plumber, you need an electrician, you need a mason for some minor repairs in your house. So that kind of facilities are available. And also the project or that community manages the assets of the community. Like, you know, there would be lips in the project, there would be, you know... electrical supplies in the project, there would be water distribution system in the project. So all these things are taken care of so that the house owner or the resident don't have to worry about the day-to-day maintenance activities. Very similar to that, retirement communities, some of the retirement communities are in the villa format and some of the retirement communities are in the apartment format. So in both this type of communities. All the basic maintenance of the community is taken care of. So that means one biggest worry for elderly or retired people is the security. Often you hear about various types of crimes committed against elderly people who live alone in cities, especially in cities. And usually unknown people like somebody visiting them on daily basis. It could be a paper delivery boy. It could be the domestic support. So any of them would take advantage of their loneliness and situation and commit crimes on them. So security is a major concern for elderly people post-retirement. That major thing is taken care of in retirement communities. There would be, I would say, not just the physical security that is given to elderly people there, but a kind of psychological security that is available. One biggest worry for post-retirement is what would happen to me. happen to me if I get a medical emergency during midnight. So if you are living alone in your regular apartment or regular houses, you will have to depend on someone else to visit your house. And, you know, first of all, they should know that you have an emergency. And based on that, maybe your relative or your neighbor takes action or some notice also if they haven't. emergency, it may not be done until their children. Whereas, they have a system to monitor the health status of elderly people and they have a usually they have an emergency response systems, like there is an emergency call button that may be available in the project. So, whenever there is an emergency, elders press that button and help comes to them immediately. So, that kind of arrangement will be there in retirement communities. So, that adds up to the second level of psychological security. In addition to the physical security, there is a second level of security which takes care of the psychological tension that what would happen to me if I become dependent or what would happen to me if I have a medical emergency. Other than this, we spoke about all kind of assets that are taken care of. care of managing the house. And depending upon the retirement community, there would be a host of services that would be available. Some of the retirement communities offer housekeeping in the sense they would take care of upkeep of the house as well as housekeeping of the house, including cleaning the washrooms, cleaning the floor, dusting, et cetera, et cetera. In some of the retirement communities, this may not be available, but however, they have some arrangements so that this requirement is taken care of. Because post-retirement, that's one of the major anxiety for people that, you know, how will I look after my house? Who will do my housekeeping? I don't have energy to wash my washrooms. You know, how to maintain hygiene of my house. So these things are taken care of by retirement communities in the services. The other major aspect or major requirement for elderly would be the dining services. What happens to most of us is as long as we live as a family, like there are four or five people, children living with us, younger couple. So they have energy, interest, physical energy as well as mental energy to prepare food. to have food together. So all that, you know, after a period of time, maybe when a person reaches 70s or late 70s, at that particular point of time, managing the kitchen, taking care of the groceries, you know, also cutting vegetables, all these things become a hassle. And they may not have energy as well as, you know, interest to do so, especially for elders who live alone. If you ask your relatives, if you ask your parents, if they are alone and if they are preparing food for themselves, usually they end up eating very monotonous food. They end up preparing too little food for themselves and too simple food for themselves that their nutritional requirements may not be taken care of. especially for people who live alone, their appetite also goes down. Invariably this happens and you know people end up eating only the ready-made food like bread slices and bread jam, bread butter kind of thing. Whereas in retirement communities, since there would be a centralized dining space, elderly who live in these communities can opt for community food. Usually, the dining is managed by a professional catering team. who take care of the nutritional requirements of elderly and there would be rotational menu, they take care of, you know, that the food is not repeated, there will be enough varieties in the food, and that is culturally relevant to them. So all these things are taken care of. That takes away another big hassle from the lifestyle of elderly people. Now, you may ask a question that, you know, these hassles are taken care of and elderly here are mostly retired. How do they find meaning in their daily life? So most of the retirement communities also offer community engagement programs. So when I say community engagement programs, they would have, depending upon the community, so they would have smaller or bigger clubhouses or community areas or community spaces where they would. there would be a number of activities which are planned in activity calendar and they take care of the fact that seniors need to be engaged meaningfully so that every morning they should find a purpose to come out of their house and engage. So that requirement is taken care of in the form of community activities. So these community activities may range anywhere from religious activities, spiritual activities, sports activities, cultural activities, or it could be formation of clubs, hobby clubs, or clubs. And, you know, since in these communities, there would be people coming from various backgrounds. Every senior would have a friend of their liking. Yeah. You know, usually community would have more than 100 people living there. So there will be few people who are very much interested in art and culture. So they form their own club, their own groups. And there will be few seniors who are very fitness frenzy, you know, group. They form their own team and they go for fitness activities, etc. And there will be explorers. You know, there will be a good number of people who like traveling. Yes. They form a small group and... keep traveling to all locations which they could not do in their peak responsibility period, I would call it as. Usually, it happens to all of us that when we are with our career responsibilities and family responsibilities, we hardly take out time for ourselves. Especially with post-retirement timing or post-retirement period. people find it very convenient or very interesting to engage themselves in those hobbies which they could not pursue during their career period. So most of the retirement communities offer these kind of opportunities and the other major thing as I was just mentioning about medical emergencies, in addition to medical emergencies preventive health care or proactive health care is something which is very important for elderly. You should be in a position to prevent health emergencies. If you look at a typical elderly person in India, they hardly give importance to preventive or proactive. This is one biggest advantage in retirement communities is that they would have some amount of preventive or proactive health programs in their communities. Like, you know, there will be availability of a nurse around the clock, there would be physiotherapy centers, physical therapy centers, there will be opportunities to engage yourself in physical and mental fitness activities like yoga. And some of the retirement communities also have for aqua therapy, swimming pool, that kind of things. And there are retirement communities. They also have a gymnasium and other types of fitness and healthcare facilities. And invariably, most of the retirement communities would have the basic clinic. Like, you know, there will be a physician, a general practitioner visiting them, maybe on a daily basis or on a periodic basis, who looks into the preventive health care of, you know, seniors who are living in that particular community. So the advantage here is, see, the modern day has taken away the benefits of family physician concept, right? So now with the health care. becoming more and more corporate driven. The concept of family physician is almost gone. And as a result, what's happening is there is no one doctor who knows the person completely. It's the system which knows about you, it would be the technology which knows about you. But however, the psychological satisfaction of elderly people is that, you know, There is a doctor who knows about me. Probably this is one big advantage for people who live in retirement communities, that there is a community doctor or there is a community nurse who knows about them, who knows about their illnesses. Say, suppose there is a challenge in their health status, the first aid team would... directly know about what would be the reason or what would be the cause behind that health issue and they take appropriate action immediately. So these are the basic support system that is available in retirement communities which makes the life hassle-free and worry-free as well as meaning is added to the lives of elderly people who live there. And I would rate one more biggest advantage of living in a retirement community is socialization. One challenge which probably every elder faces in their existing houses is the amount of socialization they have or the amount of personal interaction they have with their own family members and also with their neighbors, unless they have like-aged people around. the interaction of elderly people in their existing places is limited. Probably that is another biggest advantage of being in a retirement community because they live in a group of like-aged people and where they find like-minded people as their friends. Yes. So that adds up as biggest booster for their quality of life in the form of socialization. Yeah. So thanks a lot. Dr. Morley, I think, you know, it's a lifestyle that someone can opt in. I think the key aspect there is the opt in. They can choose the lifestyle which is hassle free, which keeps them active, which keeps their social life active, convenience, several factors, right? I think, you know, that's where this is an option that's available and becomes much more popular as they get older because they can have their own hassle free lifestyle to some extent and keep them active. So my next question is, uh, how do people select a place right you know which i mean when i say place like let's take even a step back the city so you know it could make it easy for some but someone who is living abroad and who wants to retire and have an after i mean they might they might have the options to go to any city so if if there are like some people in that boat like you know let's start with a city and then once they select a city uh how do they go about which retirement community that they want to be part of right i think you know They all come in different flavors, I would assume, right? You know, in terms of the lifestyle, in terms of the quality and all that stuff. So what are the questions that they should think about? You know, do we need such a big size or a smaller community? How big is the community? What are the different social activities that they're keeping engaging, facilities, availability, and so on? I think the question is, how do they select a city? And what are the questions that they should ask so that they can narrow down to which kind of a... retirement community that they want to be part of. I think that would be very helpful in guiding them in making that selection. Thanks for asking this question. This is one of my favorite subjects. People, while choosing senior living or retirement community, they always have this question, how to choose? As you rightly said, start from the region or the city. That would be the first step, I would say. Why to select the right region? or write a city for you is usually, especially in India, since India is having diverse culture, every state has a different language. Every state has a different climate. Every state has a different culture and every state has different culinary experiences. Even religious practices and spiritual practices are also different from state to state. So I would say irrespective of your generation, consider a state or a region which is suitable for you in these terms? One is whether that location is culturally suitable for you. Second, are you familiar with the native language of that particular place? Though there are cosmopolitan retirement communities in India, but I would still say this as a decision-making criteria that whether the language is the local native language of the place is convenient for you. Third, are you familiar with the climate? Yeah. Just to give an example, say, suppose you are from, you know, you lived all your life in a moderate climate. And if you choose Delhi as, you know, retirement destination, I would say it may not suit you because Delhi and CR or most of the cities in North India would have extreme climates. during summer it would be extreme heat and during winter it would be extreme cold. So that's another criteria you need to consider. However, for people who are used to that climate, they find it very convenient to live in similar climate. So consider the climate as another factor whether you are familiar with that kind of climate, I would use that particular term, are you familiar with that particular climate and Four, you know, you would require enough lung space. When you move into a retirement community, you would look for a lung space. Because all these years, probably you might have lived in a very tight environment where there is so little of lung space. So do you have enough lung space in that particular community? And next is, you know, look at, you know, the kind of housing options they have or you know options they have in terms of the space which you are looking for probably you are looking for a certain sized retirement home maybe 1000 square feet 2000 square feet or the smaller one or you may be looking a smaller house like a one bedroom house two bedroom house or a studio house or three bedroom house so first identify what is your requirement in terms of sites. And once you have these things in line, next look into your finances. As I mentioned initially, there are two models which are available. You can opt for a rental or lease model where you don't own the house, but you buy rights to live in that community during your lifetime. That's one option that is available. Very wonderful. Capital investment is limited but however you may have to pay a slightly higher monthly fee to live in that particular community. So the second option that is available financially is to buy the apartment and even these apartments or retirement homes are available in various ticket sizes. Starting anywhere from 25 lakhs up to maybe crore. or two to three crores depending upon the luxury of the project. So you identify your financial abilities and in two ways. So what is the one-time investment that is possible for you if that is applicable for that particular community and also equally important is what would be the monthly outflow that would do. So that would include are there any monthly maintenance charges. Are there any food charges? If there are food charges, what is that? Are there any additional charges? Do they charge separately for housekeeping? Do they charge separately for laundry? Or are you planning to do these things on your own? So consider these factors. So finances is another area which you need to focus. And then I would say next is accessibility of that project. The project may be aesthetically very beautiful but you know maybe too far away from the city or to inside the city, inside the houses of the city. So do you really want that kind of accessibility? I mean, you may be compromising few things if it is inside the city, or you may be compromising few things if it is slightly away from the city. Globally, if you see most of the retirement communities are slightly away from the city, especially for the reason infrastructure cost would be lesser, and also the land space would be more. So from these reasons, globally, the retirement communities are away from the city. The next thing is look at what kind of first aid and health care facilities they have. Because when you move into a retirement community, you may be physically very fit and very active. But down the line, maybe over a period of time, after 10 years, after 15 years, when you reach the age of... for 85, 90. 90, 95 is very much livable now because of the healthcare facilities that are available in India, because of the preventive care that is available in India and because of the nutritional and health awareness that is happening around. So because of these reasons, you can expect usually people live up to 90, 95 till that age. say suppose if someone reaches that age what kind of health care facilities that may be required and what would be the distance from that community to the nearest healthcare facility and within the community what kind of first aid or healthcare support they have so consider these aspects and then i would say look at the services which are available with like you know say dining what kind of dining facility you want uh you know in retirement community it's not the restaurant kind of dining you would like to have right you would like to have food which is uh home-like uh you know which is uh nutritionally balanced it should be um it should be very wholesome to you uh so that you know you don't end up with the you know digestion related issues so hygienically prepared and considering the requirements of when the people in mind so understand what kind of food they offer and next is very important is what kind of engagement activities they offer what kind of socialization you know activities they offer so understand that also because your apartment or the services alone will not make your you know lifestyle The kind of friends you would have, the kind of engagement you would have, the kind of opportunities you have to rekindle your hobbies, your abilities, your stimulations, maybe physically and mentally, what kind of stimulations you can get there. That's another important factor you need to consider. And there are other factors which you need to consider like minor factors or minor services like, you know, if you need them, like, do you need transportation? So what kind of transportation facilities do they have? Do they have concierge facilities? Do they have, you know, laundry facilities? So say, suppose I'm unable to take care of my laundry, what kind of alternative do they have? Yes. And most importantly, probably, I mean, though this would happen to... you know, five in 100 people. But in case I fall in those five percentage, say, suppose, when I reach my late 80s or 90s, say, suppose I'm not in a position to look after myself, what kind of arrangements the community would offer? Yeah. So do they ask me to go out? Or do they ask me to look for attendants or caretakers on my own? Or do they arrange something? Or do they have an assisted living center or care center within the premises? So look into these care options that are available when it becomes a requirement for you. So look at these requirements as well. So these are some basic criteria we should consider before choosing the retirement program. Thanks a lot, Dr. Moroli. So I think in continuation... continuation to that discussion right i think you know i just want to expand a little bit on the finances part i know you mentioned about this model of owning versus renting uh i think you know you gave a range right i think you know it can start anywhere from 25 lakhs can go up to three or higher i mean just based on the quality the luxury location and so on. Generally, is there a ballpark number that you can provide on the maintenance? I know it also varies from services like is there a range just to have an idea of people like when they're thinking about a active retirement community just from a finances side is there a number that you can share like in a broad range for the maintenance part of it? So let me start with the sale model. Sale model would have a different you know monthly maintenance charges. and the rental model would have a different range. In sale model, the monthly costs are inclusive. I would say, I mean, communities would have the entire bouquet of services under one package, or some communities may have these services in different packets. Some of them may be optional, some of them may be part of the package, etc. But when I consider all of them together, there are some retirement communities who offer probably your cost of living per month would range anywhere from 15,000 onwards, including food, again, depending upon the luxury segment. So 15,000 to maybe up to 2 lakhs. That would be the range in which you would get services. But when we say cost-effective projects, the amount of services or the amount of options that may be available in those communities will be limited. So we need to understand that particular fact. And as the cost goes up, the options, the hospitality and all that adds up to it. So that would be the range from 15,000 onwards up to 2 lakhs or even more than that. So depending upon the type of the project, luxury of the project and the amount of services that are available. If we defragment that, probably food would cost anywhere between say 7000 rupees or five you know six to seven thousand rupees up to a lakh. Okay. So there are some retirement communities who offer you know your food courses just like five star hotels for 70 star hotels. Obviously, the cost there would be higher. And there are some retirement communities even offer bar and non-vegetarian food, all that. So, majority of the retirement communities in India as of today offer only vegetarian food. But there are many retirement communities offer both vegetarian, non-vegetarian, bar, etc. So, those options are available. But that is the range. When it comes to rental model, usually... under rental model they usually bundle everything together it includes your rental it includes so you know probably laundry it includes some of the healthcare facilities it includes your food there may be one or two items which may not be included in the package like you know electricity may or may not be included in the package but however they usually include most of the things and that would range anywhere between 30 000 rupees you know, that includes your stay rent, et cetera, 30,000 rupees to maybe up to 2 lakh rupees or slightly more than that. So, yeah, so that is the range I would say. Got it. So if we have to, I know that's a very broad range, right? I think especially when I look from 15,000 to 2 lakhs and I mean, I'm surprised when I heard like, you know, 1 lakh per month, per person, per food, it's almost like someone living and like eating out every day, right? It's almost like, you know, somebody spending like, you know, five uh five thousand or like three grand every month every day like you know just i think for the food uh so uh if if we just like say like 80 percent of these fall in this right i mean i know there will be like outliers there will be like some really high luxury some will be very very very cost effective but when you look at like in general right i think uh do you say like an 80 percent of theirs will fall under like 30 40 000 maintenance i mean again you know is there a number that can do just that helps like uh you know at least a number that would be much more uh digestible and understand like the reality. That's what I just trying to understand. The majority of them would fall in that particular region, 20,000 to 40,000, I would say. This is for the owned. That is for probably that will take care of the maintenance, that will take care of your electricity, that will take care of your food, that will take care of basic medical facilities. So most of the retirement communities would offer you a lifestyle ranging from 20,000 rupees to 40,000 rupees. Understood. And then one quick follow-up question. I know like this is something that I heard like, you know, if people have opted for a home that they purchased most probably I think you know there might not be someone come and live there right I think within their family so is there something that they resale like later or how does that work if they own it versus renting just curious on that part of it. Okay let's try to understand this particular fact that you know senior living is not a separate category in real estate as on today in India it's part I mean, for all legal purposes, it is considered as at par with regular apartment complexes or housing complexes. So from that point of view, what we need to understand is the law that applies to a regular apartment or regular house applies to a senior house as well. But however, In senior living communities, they would have separate bylaws, they would have additional clauses, terms and conditions, etc. to make it an exclusive community for elderly people. So, taking these two points together, what we need to understand is the real estate purchase is very similar to regular housing. You and me, younger generation people can also buy a house in senior community usually. But I mean, they would have their own bylaws. But usually, in most of the cases, the resident primary resident of the property has to be an elderly person who is maybe 50 or 55, depending upon the norms they have. When it comes to reselling of the property, again, the property can be resold to anybody. but the occupant of the property or the resident of the property has to be a elderly person so that's the norm generally everybody follows yeah so i'm just being mindful of the time i know this is an important topic where we can spend a lot of time getting into the specifics but uh so thank you very much dr moraly for all your insights and how one should select a particular community the options available the facilities available the price ranges i think this is very useful to lot of people And once again, thank you very much for taking the time and talking to us and sharing your insights on this particular topic. Thanks, Avinash. Thank you for having me here. I enjoyed it. Great.

What would happen to me if I become dependent? Or what would happen to me if I have a medical emergency? And if they are preparing food for themselves.

Usually they end up eating very monotonous food. They end up preparing too little food for themselves and too simple food for themselves that their nutritional requirements may not be taken care of. And especially for people who live alone, their appetite also goes down.

How do they select a city? And what are the questions that they should ask so that they can narrow down to which kind of a retirement community that they want to live in? to be part of.

There are some retirement communities who offer probably your cost of living per month would range anywhere from 15,000 onwards including food, again, depending upon the luxury segment, to 15,000 to maybe up to 2 lakhs. Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Desi Written. Today's topic is with an expert and I'm really excited to have Dr. Murali on our show. Dr. Murali has more than 20 years of experience with the senior care, senior living, helping builders on building the right living conditions for the seniors. and has much more experience.

I'm really looking forward to this discussion as we have a lot of people who are interested in retiring in India. So with that, welcome Dr. Murali to the show. Thank you, Avinash.

Thank you for having me here. I'm excited equally to be on the show. Thank you.

That's great. So let's kick it off with a high level question in terms of currently in India, what are the different kind of facilities that are available so that people are clear about the terminology, right? I think there is still a little bit misunderstanding. So I want to start off with that.

What are the options that are available? And if you can clarify what those are, I think that would be a good starting point. And then we can dive in.

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Avinash, compared to senior care and senior living facilities abroad, still broader terminologies are getting used in India. And sometimes the same terminology is used for multiple formats of senior living. But let me discuss about some of the commonly used terminologies and what kind of options that are available for seniors in India. Let's begin with a facility for seniors who are physically active, seniors who are cognitively active, seniors who are able to take care of themselves.

They are in a position to make decisions. They are in a position to manage their lifestyle. So for seniors. such seniors, active senior living or senior living, in general, they use this term for active senior living. Senior living is a facility which has two segments or I would say two formats.

There are senior living communities available in India which are on sale basis. So you can say there's a sale model. And also there are senior living communities or active senior living communities which are on rental model. So these are two formats that are available in this particular segment.

And then there is a second category. This is for seniors probably who are physically a little frail due to age or due to some ailments or due to some diseases. So they have some challenges with their physical abilities.

They may not be in a position to look after themselves. or the family has a challenge to have expert care for them. And also there are seniors who are cognitively challenged.

So though abroad, there are two separate categories that are available for such seniors. One is called as assisted living and one is called as skilled care, skilled nursing care. Whereas in India, since it's still in developmental stage, both are clubbed together.

called as either assisted living or care homes. So both are equally used terminologies in India. That's the second category that is available.

And of course, a very small number of specialized care providers that are available in this field called as memory care or dementia care. This is for seniors who physically may be very active, physically may be capable or may not be capable as well. but they definitely have cognition related issues, memory related issues.

So these are specialized care centers for elderly who have some other kind of dementia or allied health challenges. So these are basically categories that are available. Whereas abroad in developed countries, there is a...

specialized category called as continuing care retirement communities or CCRC, which is not available in India as of now. But however, there are some developers or some retirement communities have both active living and assisted living. And in a way, that covers up for CCRC concept in India as well.

So these are the options in broad that are available in India. And some of them are on sale basis and some of them are on rent basis. Got it. No, thanks a lot, Dr. Morley.

So I think maybe let's focus on the active senior living, right? I mean, let's, we can focus on the, on that particular segment. So if we can talk a little bit of history from your 20 years of experience, like how that sector has evolved, where we are, like in general, talk about like the facilities availability in metros, tier two cities, tier three, you know, in general about like how this is evolving and kind of give us a high level picture of this particular, you know, communities and the lifestyle that would be very helpful to set the stage. Absolutely. Probably active senior living started in India simultaneously, you know, two, three different cities by different developers.

In northern part of India, Ashana Housing Limited, they started their active senior living communities in Bivadi. in Delhi NCR. Way back in probably 2003 to 2007 was the period when the project was conceptualized and they started. Simultaneously at the same time, Paranjapai developers in Pune also started their active senior living communities.

And then there was an NGO called Dignity Foundation started their first active senior living community. Very close to Mumbai, outskirts of Mumbai. And then some retirement communities started to emerge in Coimbatore. You know, Kovai Properties is one who started off some of the retirement communities in Coimbatore. So probably this was the period 2003 to 2007 when, you know, some single living communities started to kind of start their baby steps in India at that point of time.

And slowly, I mean, that was the beginning. And slowly from those cities or those towns, communities started to spread across India. If you look today, there are some number of...

for senior living communities in Delhi and CR. There are a few in Dehradun. There are a few retirement communities in Madhya Pradesh. There are a few retirement communities in Maharashtra, especially Pune being the hub of retirement communities for Maharashtra. And a couple of projects coming up in Mumbai area.

And I mean... More than 60% of retirement communities are focused in South India. Okay.

Specifically around Coimbatore, Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. So these are the cities where the majority of the senior living communities are present. And of course, Kerala also has some retirement communities of late.

And since this concept is getting a little more... interesting for the general public and you know people have started to recognize the importance of this concept we now see a lot of communities coming up across India even tier two tier three cities are also coming up with senior living communities across India yeah that's great yeah so maybe just to I think there might be some pre conceptions, right? I mean, in terms of senior living, I think people think it's maybe not like an orphanage, but I think some people have a wrong notion about it. So I think it might help like, you know, there is such a broad range of even senior living, right? I think how much of services are provided, maybe if we can paint a picture, like, you know, just to have an understanding or, you know, put some of the facts straight, right?

Hey, this is not like an orphanage, this is like an active senior living, lifestyle living or whatever. I think, you know, if you can share some insights in terms of the facts and also like the available services, right? So that people have a better understanding when they're talking about this active senior living. Yeah, great question, Navidash.

You know, to begin with, maybe 20 years back when senior living started in India, people used to consider senior living as a, you know, synonym for old age homes. The moment we say old age homes, the picture that comes to mind majority of the people's minds is it's a charity driven or charity organized orphanage homes where you know seniors who have nobody else to look after will be sheltered so that is the picture generally people have but contrary to this senior living is a is a living option you know i would say option for people people opt to live in senior living communities for primarily for hassle-free life and for the lifestyle. When we say lifestyle, it comprises of your diet, your hassle-free living.

So when you say typically when you live in a retirement community, sorry, when you live in any kind of housing communities, especially apartments, you will find a host of services that are available, like there is security that is available. and then common area maintenance that is available. There are some housing communities which also provide support for upkeep of the house.

Like, you know, you need a plumber, you need an electrician, you need a mason for some minor repairs in your house. So that kind of facilities are available. And also the project or that community manages the assets of the community.

Like, you know, there would be lips in the project, there would be, you know... electrical supplies in the project, there would be water distribution system in the project. So all these things are taken care of so that the house owner or the resident don't have to worry about the day-to-day maintenance activities.

Very similar to that, retirement communities, some of the retirement communities are in the villa format and some of the retirement communities are in the apartment format. So in both this type of communities. All the basic maintenance of the community is taken care of.

So that means one biggest worry for elderly or retired people is the security. Often you hear about various types of crimes committed against elderly people who live alone in cities, especially in cities. And usually unknown people like somebody visiting them on daily basis. It could be a paper delivery boy. It could be the domestic support.

So any of them would take advantage of their loneliness and situation and commit crimes on them. So security is a major concern for elderly people post-retirement. That major thing is taken care of in retirement communities.

There would be, I would say, not just the physical security that is given to elderly people there, but a kind of psychological security that is available. One biggest worry for post-retirement is what would happen to me. happen to me if I get a medical emergency during midnight. So if you are living alone in your regular apartment or regular houses, you will have to depend on someone else to visit your house. And, you know, first of all, they should know that you have an emergency.

And based on that, maybe your relative or your neighbor takes action or some notice also if they haven't. emergency, it may not be done until their children. Whereas, they have a system to monitor the health status of elderly people and they have a usually they have an emergency response systems, like there is an emergency call button that may be available in the project.

So, whenever there is an emergency, elders press that button and help comes to them immediately. So, that kind of arrangement will be there in retirement communities. So, that adds up to the second level of psychological security. In addition to the physical security, there is a second level of security which takes care of the psychological tension that what would happen to me if I become dependent or what would happen to me if I have a medical emergency.

Other than this, we spoke about all kind of assets that are taken care of. care of managing the house. And depending upon the retirement community, there would be a host of services that would be available.

Some of the retirement communities offer housekeeping in the sense they would take care of upkeep of the house as well as housekeeping of the house, including cleaning the washrooms, cleaning the floor, dusting, et cetera, et cetera. In some of the retirement communities, this may not be available, but however, they have some arrangements so that this requirement is taken care of. Because post-retirement, that's one of the major anxiety for people that, you know, how will I look after my house? Who will do my housekeeping? I don't have energy to wash my washrooms.

You know, how to maintain hygiene of my house. So these things are taken care of by retirement communities in the services. The other major aspect or major requirement for elderly would be the dining services. What happens to most of us is as long as we live as a family, like there are four or five people, children living with us, younger couple. So they have energy, interest, physical energy as well as mental energy to prepare food.

to have food together. So all that, you know, after a period of time, maybe when a person reaches 70s or late 70s, at that particular point of time, managing the kitchen, taking care of the groceries, you know, also cutting vegetables, all these things become a hassle. And they may not have energy as well as, you know, interest to do so, especially for elders who live alone. If you ask your relatives, if you ask your parents, if they are alone and if they are preparing food for themselves, usually they end up eating very monotonous food.

They end up preparing too little food for themselves and too simple food for themselves that their nutritional requirements may not be taken care of. especially for people who live alone, their appetite also goes down. Invariably this happens and you know people end up eating only the ready-made food like bread slices and bread jam, bread butter kind of thing.

Whereas in retirement communities, since there would be a centralized dining space, elderly who live in these communities can opt for community food. Usually, the dining is managed by a professional catering team. who take care of the nutritional requirements of elderly and there would be rotational menu, they take care of, you know, that the food is not repeated, there will be enough varieties in the food, and that is culturally relevant to them. So all these things are taken care of. That takes away another big hassle from the lifestyle of elderly people.

Now, you may ask a question that, you know, these hassles are taken care of and elderly here are mostly retired. How do they find meaning in their daily life? So most of the retirement communities also offer community engagement programs.

So when I say community engagement programs, they would have, depending upon the community, so they would have smaller or bigger clubhouses or community areas or community spaces where they would. there would be a number of activities which are planned in activity calendar and they take care of the fact that seniors need to be engaged meaningfully so that every morning they should find a purpose to come out of their house and engage. So that requirement is taken care of in the form of community activities. So these community activities may range anywhere from religious activities, spiritual activities, sports activities, cultural activities, or it could be formation of clubs, hobby clubs, or clubs. And, you know, since in these communities, there would be people coming from various backgrounds.

Every senior would have a friend of their liking. Yeah. You know, usually community would have more than 100 people living there.

So there will be few people who are very much interested in art and culture. So they form their own club, their own groups. And there will be few seniors who are very fitness frenzy, you know, group.

They form their own team and they go for fitness activities, etc. And there will be explorers. You know, there will be a good number of people who like traveling. Yes.

They form a small group and... keep traveling to all locations which they could not do in their peak responsibility period, I would call it as. Usually, it happens to all of us that when we are with our career responsibilities and family responsibilities, we hardly take out time for ourselves. Especially with post-retirement timing or post-retirement period.

people find it very convenient or very interesting to engage themselves in those hobbies which they could not pursue during their career period. So most of the retirement communities offer these kind of opportunities and the other major thing as I was just mentioning about medical emergencies, in addition to medical emergencies preventive health care or proactive health care is something which is very important for elderly. You should be in a position to prevent health emergencies.

If you look at a typical elderly person in India, they hardly give importance to preventive or proactive. This is one biggest advantage in retirement communities is that they would have some amount of preventive or proactive health programs in their communities. Like, you know, there will be availability of a nurse around the clock, there would be physiotherapy centers, physical therapy centers, there will be opportunities to engage yourself in physical and mental fitness activities like yoga.

And some of the retirement communities also have for aqua therapy, swimming pool, that kind of things. And there are retirement communities. They also have a gymnasium and other types of fitness and healthcare facilities. And invariably, most of the retirement communities would have the basic clinic. Like, you know, there will be a physician, a general practitioner visiting them, maybe on a daily basis or on a periodic basis, who looks into the preventive health care of, you know, seniors who are living in that particular community.

So the advantage here is, see, the modern day has taken away the benefits of family physician concept, right? So now with the health care. becoming more and more corporate driven.

The concept of family physician is almost gone. And as a result, what's happening is there is no one doctor who knows the person completely. It's the system which knows about you, it would be the technology which knows about you. But however, the psychological satisfaction of elderly people is that, you know, There is a doctor who knows about me.

Probably this is one big advantage for people who live in retirement communities, that there is a community doctor or there is a community nurse who knows about them, who knows about their illnesses. Say, suppose there is a challenge in their health status, the first aid team would... directly know about what would be the reason or what would be the cause behind that health issue and they take appropriate action immediately. So these are the basic support system that is available in retirement communities which makes the life hassle-free and worry-free as well as meaning is added to the lives of elderly people who live there.

And I would rate one more biggest advantage of living in a retirement community is socialization. One challenge which probably every elder faces in their existing houses is the amount of socialization they have or the amount of personal interaction they have with their own family members and also with their neighbors, unless they have like-aged people around. the interaction of elderly people in their existing places is limited.

Probably that is another biggest advantage of being in a retirement community because they live in a group of like-aged people and where they find like-minded people as their friends. Yes. So that adds up as biggest booster for their quality of life in the form of socialization. Yeah.

So thanks a lot. Dr. Morley, I think, you know, it's a lifestyle that someone can opt in. I think the key aspect there is the opt in.

They can choose the lifestyle which is hassle free, which keeps them active, which keeps their social life active, convenience, several factors, right? I think, you know, that's where this is an option that's available and becomes much more popular as they get older because they can have their own hassle free lifestyle to some extent and keep them active. So my next question is, uh, how do people select a place right you know which i mean when i say place like let's take even a step back the city so you know it could make it easy for some but someone who is living abroad and who wants to retire and have an after i mean they might they might have the options to go to any city so if if there are like some people in that boat like you know let's start with a city and then once they select a city uh how do they go about which retirement community that they want to be part of right i think you know They all come in different flavors, I would assume, right?

You know, in terms of the lifestyle, in terms of the quality and all that stuff. So what are the questions that they should think about? You know, do we need such a big size or a smaller community? How big is the community? What are the different social activities that they're keeping engaging, facilities, availability, and so on?

I think the question is, how do they select a city? And what are the questions that they should ask so that they can narrow down to which kind of a... retirement community that they want to be part of. I think that would be very helpful in guiding them in making that selection.

Thanks for asking this question. This is one of my favorite subjects. People, while choosing senior living or retirement community, they always have this question, how to choose?

As you rightly said, start from the region or the city. That would be the first step, I would say. Why to select the right region? or write a city for you is usually, especially in India, since India is having diverse culture, every state has a different language.

Every state has a different climate. Every state has a different culture and every state has different culinary experiences. Even religious practices and spiritual practices are also different from state to state. So I would say irrespective of your generation, consider a state or a region which is suitable for you in these terms?

One is whether that location is culturally suitable for you. Second, are you familiar with the native language of that particular place? Though there are cosmopolitan retirement communities in India, but I would still say this as a decision-making criteria that whether the language is the local native language of the place is convenient for you. Third, are you familiar with the climate?

Yeah. Just to give an example, say, suppose you are from, you know, you lived all your life in a moderate climate. And if you choose Delhi as, you know, retirement destination, I would say it may not suit you because Delhi and CR or most of the cities in North India would have extreme climates. during summer it would be extreme heat and during winter it would be extreme cold. So that's another criteria you need to consider.

However, for people who are used to that climate, they find it very convenient to live in similar climate. So consider the climate as another factor whether you are familiar with that kind of climate, I would use that particular term, are you familiar with that particular climate and Four, you know, you would require enough lung space. When you move into a retirement community, you would look for a lung space. Because all these years, probably you might have lived in a very tight environment where there is so little of lung space. So do you have enough lung space in that particular community?

And next is, you know, look at, you know, the kind of housing options they have or you know options they have in terms of the space which you are looking for probably you are looking for a certain sized retirement home maybe 1000 square feet 2000 square feet or the smaller one or you may be looking a smaller house like a one bedroom house two bedroom house or a studio house or three bedroom house so first identify what is your requirement in terms of sites. And once you have these things in line, next look into your finances. As I mentioned initially, there are two models which are available.

You can opt for a rental or lease model where you don't own the house, but you buy rights to live in that community during your lifetime. That's one option that is available. Very wonderful.

Capital investment is limited but however you may have to pay a slightly higher monthly fee to live in that particular community. So the second option that is available financially is to buy the apartment and even these apartments or retirement homes are available in various ticket sizes. Starting anywhere from 25 lakhs up to maybe crore.

or two to three crores depending upon the luxury of the project. So you identify your financial abilities and in two ways. So what is the one-time investment that is possible for you if that is applicable for that particular community and also equally important is what would be the monthly outflow that would do. So that would include are there any monthly maintenance charges.

Are there any food charges? If there are food charges, what is that? Are there any additional charges? Do they charge separately for housekeeping?

Do they charge separately for laundry? Or are you planning to do these things on your own? So consider these factors. So finances is another area which you need to focus.

And then I would say next is accessibility of that project. The project may be aesthetically very beautiful but you know maybe too far away from the city or to inside the city, inside the houses of the city. So do you really want that kind of accessibility?

I mean, you may be compromising few things if it is inside the city, or you may be compromising few things if it is slightly away from the city. Globally, if you see most of the retirement communities are slightly away from the city, especially for the reason infrastructure cost would be lesser, and also the land space would be more. So from these reasons, globally, the retirement communities are away from the city. The next thing is look at what kind of first aid and health care facilities they have. Because when you move into a retirement community, you may be physically very fit and very active.

But down the line, maybe over a period of time, after 10 years, after 15 years, when you reach the age of... for 85, 90. 90, 95 is very much livable now because of the healthcare facilities that are available in India, because of the preventive care that is available in India and because of the nutritional and health awareness that is happening around. So because of these reasons, you can expect usually people live up to 90, 95 till that age. say suppose if someone reaches that age what kind of health care facilities that may be required and what would be the distance from that community to the nearest healthcare facility and within the community what kind of first aid or healthcare support they have so consider these aspects and then i would say look at the services which are available with like you know say dining what kind of dining facility you want uh you know in retirement community it's not the restaurant kind of dining you would like to have right you would like to have food which is uh home-like uh you know which is uh nutritionally balanced it should be um it should be very wholesome to you uh so that you know you don't end up with the you know digestion related issues so hygienically prepared and considering the requirements of when the people in mind so understand what kind of food they offer and next is very important is what kind of engagement activities they offer what kind of socialization you know activities they offer so understand that also because your apartment or the services alone will not make your you know lifestyle The kind of friends you would have, the kind of engagement you would have, the kind of opportunities you have to rekindle your hobbies, your abilities, your stimulations, maybe physically and mentally, what kind of stimulations you can get there. That's another important factor you need to consider.

And there are other factors which you need to consider like minor factors or minor services like, you know, if you need them, like, do you need transportation? So what kind of transportation facilities do they have? Do they have concierge facilities?

Do they have, you know, laundry facilities? So say, suppose I'm unable to take care of my laundry, what kind of alternative do they have? Yes.

And most importantly, probably, I mean, though this would happen to... you know, five in 100 people. But in case I fall in those five percentage, say, suppose, when I reach my late 80s or 90s, say, suppose I'm not in a position to look after myself, what kind of arrangements the community would offer?

Yeah. So do they ask me to go out? Or do they ask me to look for attendants or caretakers on my own?

Or do they arrange something? Or do they have an assisted living center or care center within the premises? So look into these care options that are available when it becomes a requirement for you.

So look at these requirements as well. So these are some basic criteria we should consider before choosing the retirement program. Thanks a lot, Dr. Moroli. So I think in continuation... continuation to that discussion right i think you know i just want to expand a little bit on the finances part i know you mentioned about this model of owning versus renting uh i think you know you gave a range right i think you know it can start anywhere from 25 lakhs can go up to three or higher i mean just based on the quality the luxury location and so on.

Generally, is there a ballpark number that you can provide on the maintenance? I know it also varies from services like is there a range just to have an idea of people like when they're thinking about a active retirement community just from a finances side is there a number that you can share like in a broad range for the maintenance part of it? So let me start with the sale model. Sale model would have a different you know monthly maintenance charges. and the rental model would have a different range.

In sale model, the monthly costs are inclusive. I would say, I mean, communities would have the entire bouquet of services under one package, or some communities may have these services in different packets. Some of them may be optional, some of them may be part of the package, etc.

But when I consider all of them together, there are some retirement communities who offer probably your cost of living per month would range anywhere from 15,000 onwards, including food, again, depending upon the luxury segment. So 15,000 to maybe up to 2 lakhs. That would be the range in which you would get services.

But when we say cost-effective projects, the amount of services or the amount of options that may be available in those communities will be limited. So we need to understand that particular fact. And as the cost goes up, the options, the hospitality and all that adds up to it. So that would be the range from 15,000 onwards up to 2 lakhs or even more than that. So depending upon the type of the project, luxury of the project and the amount of services that are available.

If we defragment that, probably food would cost anywhere between say 7000 rupees or five you know six to seven thousand rupees up to a lakh. Okay. So there are some retirement communities who offer you know your food courses just like five star hotels for 70 star hotels. Obviously, the cost there would be higher. And there are some retirement communities even offer bar and non-vegetarian food, all that.

So, majority of the retirement communities in India as of today offer only vegetarian food. But there are many retirement communities offer both vegetarian, non-vegetarian, bar, etc. So, those options are available.

But that is the range. When it comes to rental model, usually... under rental model they usually bundle everything together it includes your rental it includes so you know probably laundry it includes some of the healthcare facilities it includes your food there may be one or two items which may not be included in the package like you know electricity may or may not be included in the package but however they usually include most of the things and that would range anywhere between 30 000 rupees you know, that includes your stay rent, et cetera, 30,000 rupees to maybe up to 2 lakh rupees or slightly more than that. So, yeah, so that is the range I would say.

Got it. So if we have to, I know that's a very broad range, right? I think especially when I look from 15,000 to 2 lakhs and I mean, I'm surprised when I heard like, you know, 1 lakh per month, per person, per food, it's almost like someone living and like eating out every day, right?

It's almost like, you know, somebody spending like, you know, five uh five thousand or like three grand every month every day like you know just i think for the food uh so uh if if we just like say like 80 percent of these fall in this right i mean i know there will be like outliers there will be like some really high luxury some will be very very very cost effective but when you look at like in general right i think uh do you say like an 80 percent of theirs will fall under like 30 40 000 maintenance i mean again you know is there a number that can do just that helps like uh you know at least a number that would be much more uh digestible and understand like the reality. That's what I just trying to understand. The majority of them would fall in that particular region, 20,000 to 40,000, I would say.

This is for the owned. That is for probably that will take care of the maintenance, that will take care of your electricity, that will take care of your food, that will take care of basic medical facilities. So most of the retirement communities would offer you a lifestyle ranging from 20,000 rupees to 40,000 rupees. Understood.

And then one quick follow-up question. I know like this is something that I heard like, you know, if people have opted for a home that they purchased most probably I think you know there might not be someone come and live there right I think within their family so is there something that they resale like later or how does that work if they own it versus renting just curious on that part of it. Okay let's try to understand this particular fact that you know senior living is not a separate category in real estate as on today in India it's part I mean, for all legal purposes, it is considered as at par with regular apartment complexes or housing complexes. So from that point of view, what we need to understand is the law that applies to a regular apartment or regular house applies to a senior house as well.

But however, In senior living communities, they would have separate bylaws, they would have additional clauses, terms and conditions, etc. to make it an exclusive community for elderly people. So, taking these two points together, what we need to understand is the real estate purchase is very similar to regular housing. You and me, younger generation people can also buy a house in senior community usually. But I mean, they would have their own bylaws.

But usually, in most of the cases, the resident primary resident of the property has to be an elderly person who is maybe 50 or 55, depending upon the norms they have. When it comes to reselling of the property, again, the property can be resold to anybody. but the occupant of the property or the resident of the property has to be a elderly person so that's the norm generally everybody follows yeah so i'm just being mindful of the time i know this is an important topic where we can spend a lot of time getting into the specifics but uh so thank you very much dr moraly for all your insights and how one should select a particular community the options available the facilities available the price ranges i think this is very useful to lot of people And once again, thank you very much for taking the time and talking to us and sharing your insights on this particular topic. Thanks, Avinash.

Thank you for having me here. I enjoyed it. Great.

Transcript for:Retirement Communities in India Overview

Transcript for:
Retirement Communities in India Overview