The first to target the global market is Athulya Senior Care, India’s largest assisted-living provider backed by Morgan Stanley. The company has already drawn up plans to expand into Mauritius and is also eyeing Sri Lanka and Dubai. It has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Singapore and Japan to supply skilled manpower to the sector.
The Chennai-based company is primarily targeting the expanding Tamil diaspora in Mauritius and Sri Lanka, while Dubai is seen as a hub for Indian high networth individuals amid the ongoing real estate boom. The company is targeting an initial public offering (IPO) by 2031-32 (FY32), once its global expansion is on track.
“Mauritius is a very interesting market with a large Indian and Tamil population. We are already setting up a small facility there in tieup with a local partner, and we will operate that facility (Chez Moi). Similarly, we are eyeing Sri Lanka and Dubai as well,” said Karthik Narayan R, founder and managing director of Athulya Senior Care.
The company has also entered into an MoU with SingHealth, Singapore’s largest public healthcare cluster, to explore collaboration in medical services, professional training, research, and knowledge exchange.
Industry sources said other Indian senior care companies are also exploring overseas expansion to tap rising demand. An Association of Senior Living India-PwC senior care report estimates that India’s organised senior care market will grow from the current 20,000 units to 100,000 units by 2030. The report says nearly 19,500 people are turning 60 every day, pushing the market size in India from $10–15 billion currently to $30–50 billion within a decade.
Athulya is also evaluating other global markets. “We want to first prove ourselves in one international market. Expansion becomes easier after that. The US and the UK are highly regulated markets, so we may not enter them immediately. But we will definitely expand into neighbouring countries where the Indian-origin population remains sizeable,” Narayan said.
Other key players in the sector include Kites Senior Care, Primus Senior Living, and Antara Senior Living in assisted living; Geri Care in multi-specialty geriatric hospitals; Serene Communities by Columbia Pacific and Ashiana Senior Living in retirement communities; and Emoha in connected elder care.
At present, Athulya has around 1,500 beds, including upcoming project expansions, of which 900 are operational. This translates into monthly revenue of ₹8.5 crore. “We want to launch an IPO by FY32, when our revenue is close to ₹1,000 crore, up from around ₹85 crore in 2025-26 and the targeted ₹125 crore in 2026-27. We are also targeting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of ₹250 crore by the time of the IPO,” he added.
A recent report by KPMG and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India says individuals aged 60 and above account for 11 per cent of India’s population in 2024, a share expected to nearly double to over 21 per cent by 2050. This would represent 16 per cent of the global population aged 60 and above, estimated at 2.1 billion by 2050. The report credits this demographic shift to rising life expectancy at birth, which increased by 9.3 years from 62.7 years in 2000 to 72 years in 2023, alongside a steadily declining fertility rate, from 3.4 to 2 live births per woman during the same period.