Start-ups for elderly care to get a big push

NEW DELHI: In a significant step towards bringing focus on addressing the needs of the fast rising elderly population, the ministry of social justice is all set to roll out its 'Seniorcare Ageing Growth Engine' project to select, support and create a “one-stop access” of elderly care products and services by credible “startups”.
These “start-ups” will be selected based on the innovative products and services they can provide across a wide range of sectors from health, housing, care centres, technology access linked to needs ranging from finances, food and wealth management to legal guidance.
The MoSJE is planning to open the process for calling startups to apply to be a part of SAGE from June 5 through a dedicated portal. All proposals will be uploaded and selection will be based on blind review by an independent screening committee of experts. The first set of selected startups will be hosted on the portal in about two months’ time. The MoSJE will be providing a fund of Rs 1 crore fund as one - time equity to each selected start-up.
According to the plan, the SAGE project aims to identify, evaluate, verify, aggregate, and deliver products, solutions, services directly to the stakeholders, giving them wide choice to select the products, solutions and services that would suit their requirements and help in improving their quality of life. The MoSJE will act as the facilitator in the entire process enabling the elderly to access the credible products through these identified start-ups.
Speaking to TOI about the long term objective of this exercise, social justice secretary R Subrahmanyam said, “This project aims to give a boost to private participation in the elderly care sector by selecting and particularly promoting new startups with innovative ideas.” He added that with the rising elderly population and their daily care needs, it is evident that the government alone cannot respond to all the concerns and private players will need to be brought on board to further the idea of "silver economy" and the potential it holds.
Data holds evidence of the emerging challenges. The number of older adults in India (people over the age of 60 years) stood at 104 million as of 2016, accounting for 8.6% of the total population. Unofficial estimates place the seniors at 120 million in 2020. Studies show that the population of older adults is expected to rise to 350 million by 2050.
The SAGE project is shaped on the recommendations of the empowered expert committee report on startups for elderly. The report highlights that the business opportunities in this space could emerge from impact-focused enterprises (social enterprises, non-profits, informal networks), technology start-ups (fintech, adtech, foodtech, healthtech, wealthtech), legal and financial services (planning solutions, insurance, medico-legal) and infrastructure and managed care systems (senior housing, living facilities, care centres.). Research and data-driven organizations and incubators of social enterprises are also expected to come forward to be a part of SAGE.
The empowered committee has recommended that during selection innovative ideas by young startups (with less than 3 years) put up by social incubators and independent startups which have worked on the elderly cause for 3 years should be considered and encouraged.