NITI Aayog has called for tax and legal reforms, housing sector reforms and a robust pension and insurance system for enhancing elderly care in India as the country witnesses a surge in the number of older people.
The move is aimed at ensuring that a basic support system is put in place to cater to the needs of India’s ageing population which is expected to go up from 10% or 104 million now to 19.5% or 319 million by 2050.
“India is witnessing an exponential growth in the number and proportion of elderly people, coupled with a decreasing fertility rate (less than 2.0) and increasing life expectancy (more than 70 years),” the Aayog said in its position paper.
“While catering to the needs of the elderly population of this size is challenging, it also presents an opportunity for the growth of the senior care industry, which is presently estimated at $7 billion (Rs 57,881 crore),” it added.
In its paper, the Aayog has proposed a host of policy and regulatory reforms for elderly care in India including a reverse mortgage mechanism to increase liquidity for seniors, and tax and goods and services tax (GST) reforms on senior care products to increase the ease of adoption and safeguard the elderly population from the financial burden. Besides, it has called for a need to reskill the elderly population, increasing coverage of public funds and infrastructure, and mandatory savings plans to financially empower the elderly people in India.
Some of the suggestions include increasing the coverage of the PM Jan Aarogya Yojana to cover the entire elderly population and increasing its coverage to various non-medical and at-home needs, revising the pension amounts to account for inflation, setting up a viable base rate for the interest accrued on senior citizen deposits and giving a further concession to older women to further improve their financial well-being.
Further, it has proposed encouraging the private sector to design targeted and comprehensive geriatric health insurance products, and increasing liquidity and capital allocation to the senior care industry to help address the needs of the segment.
“Protection for the elderly from financial fraud by increasing awareness and literacy also needs to be ensured,” it added.
On the legal reforms, the Aayog has proposed strengthening the existing Welfare and Maintenance Act to encompass the components of abuse, harassment, protection, maintenance, and other support specific to the elderly population and fast-tracking the notification of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Elaborating on the need for elderly-friendly living or housing sector reforms for the elderly, the Aayog has suggested a regulatory framework with standards and accreditations be put in place for the private sector to develop senior care facilities, including elderly housing facilities.
The government, currently, provides healthcare facilities to the elderly under the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) run by the Health Ministry and National Action Plan for Senior Citizens under the ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
However, there is no provision of old-age homes at the national level and the benefits under various old-age schemes continue to be paltry and do not match the inflation.
