Will India See More Senior Citizen Homes Soon? What Are the Government’s Plans?

The elderly population in Indian is growing fast and is expected to reach around 347 million by 2050. The retirement-related schemes, such as social security, pension, medical insurance, and shelter, are paid attention to; however, how sufficient are they, especially the shelter? When Mallikarjun Kharge asked whether the government had any plans to expand senior citizen care homes or old age homes run by the central or state governments directly or through providing funding for them in the Rajya Sabha on December 10, 2025, this is what the government replied.

B L Verma, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, in a written reply, answered, “Under the IPSrC component of AVYAY scheme, proposals are invited for providing financial assistance to the senior citizen homes located in gap districts and districts having insufficient capacity of senior citizen homes.”

Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY)

Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY), a scheme that provides senior citizens with basic amenities, including food, medical care, entertainment opportunities, and shelter, to help them stay productive and active. The state governments, union territories (UTs), non-governmental organisations, local bodies, and panchayati raj institutions provide support for the scheme. The scheme’s five components include:

• Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC)

• State Action Plan for Senior Citizens (SAPSrC)

• Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY)

• Senior Citizen Opportunities for Productive Engagement (SCOPE)

• Seniorcare Ageing Growth Engine (SAGE)

However, the government didn’t provide data about how many more such homes are required to be established.

It further read, “grant-in-aid is provided to NGOs/Voluntary Organisations for running and maintenance of Senior Citizens Homes (old age homes), Continuous Care Homes, etc. Facilities like shelter, nutrition, Medicare and recreational activities are provided free of cost to the indigent senior citizens living in such homes.”

To the other questions about the number of such homes and beneficieries as well as the grants, the data was provided. Here are the details:

Per the data, the highest number of senior citizens’ homes is in Odisha (82), followed by Andhra Pradesh (74) and Tamil Nadu (70). However, the top states with the maximum number of beneficiaries in 2024-25 were Maharashtra (2,135), Odisha (2,125), and Tamil Nadu (1,950).

Elderline - 14567  

In the question of the number of grievances received and disposed of under the senior citizen helpline, say Elderline, the minister replied that the Elderline is operational from October 01, 2021, and informed that, except for four states and UTs (Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Pondicherry, and West Bengal), all other states and UTs have the helpline operational. There is no call officer in Pondicherry, and in the other three states, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have not been signed as of November 30, 2025.