As demand increases for accessible, appropriate and sustainable senior care, the sector is expanding across senior living, healthcare, AgeTech, financing and insurance. Organisations and experts are generating insights through their practices and innovations, but these learnings remain fragmented. The SCALE Initiative seeks to address this gap by generating evidence and translating it into insights that can help industry stakeholders and policymakers make informed decisions.
The initiative will focus on consumer behaviour, workforce participation, social inclusion, operating and care delivery models and their financing, and technology adoption. As its founding industry partner, Antara Senior Care will support SCALE’s engagement with the senior care sector.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the initiative was exchanged between Tara Singh Vachani, Managing Trustee, Max India Foundation and Executive Chairperson, Antara Senior Care, and ISB Dean Madan Pillutla. The exchange took place in the presence of Rajit Mehta, MD and CEO, Antara Senior Care; Ishaan Khanna, CEO, Antara Assisted Care Services; Sarang Deo, Executive Director, MIHM at ISB; Karthik Balakrishnan, Deputy Dean – Faculty and Research, ISB; and DNV Kumara Guru, Senior Director – Advancement, Alumni Engagement and External Relations, ISB.
SCALE will bring together researchers, senior care industry stakeholders and clinicians to examine the evolving care needs of seniors and identify priority areas for action. By connecting real-world industry challenges with research, the initiative aims to inform service design, operating models, technology adoption, workforce planning, investment and innovation across the sector.
Tara Singh Vachani, Executive Chairperson, Antara Senior Care, said India’s demographic transition presents an opportunity to deepen the understanding of how seniors can lead healthier, more independent and fulfilling lives.
“As lifespan improves, seniors are seeking greater health, independence, purpose, dignity and choice. Meeting these aspirations requires a deeper understanding of their diverse needs and experiences. The SCALE Initiative brings together research, practitioner insights and stakeholder perspectives to strengthen the evidence base around ageing and care. Our aim is to translate this knowledge into more effective care models, stronger support systems and better outcomes for seniors and their families. Through this initiative, we hope to contribute to the broader national conversation on how India can prepare for and respond to the opportunities and challenges of an ageing society,” she said.
Professor Sarang Deo, Executive Director, Max Institute of Healthcare Management, ISB, said India’s growing senior population and its evolving needs and aspirations would require a reassessment of how systems, services and markets are designed for seniors.
“India is entering a phase where the growing needs and aspirations of a senior population will require us to rethink how we design systems, services and markets for seniors. SCALE brings a management and evidence-based perspective to this challenge, examining how businesses, healthcare organisations and public institutions can respond to these changes across financing, technology, workforce participation, consumer and producer behaviour, and social inclusion. Through SCALE, our objective is to build a stronger evidence base that can inform both private-sector practice and public policy to shape more effective and sustainable responses to India's growing senior population,” he said.
SCALE at MIHM will function as a sustained research and industry engagement platform, facilitating research collaborations, data partnerships, pilots, evaluations and knowledge exchange. Over time, it aims to establish an industry-level evidence base to help organisations innovate, respond to evolving consumer needs, make informed business and investment decisions, strengthen workforce strategies and scale effective approaches.
The initiative will draw on Antara Senior Care’s experience in building an integrated continuum of care spanning senior living, care homes and services, wellness, and products and solutions for chronic disease management. This experience will contribute real-world insights into the evolving needs of seniors and their families, complementing MIHM’s healthcare research expertise and ISB’s broader commitment to developing knowledge and partnerships to address critical societal challenges.
Antara Senior Care was launched in 2013 as the senior-care business of Max India Limited, part of the USD6.3-billion Max Group. It operates as an integrated senior-care ecosystem through two main lines of business: Residences for Seniors and Assisted Care Services.
Its first senior residential community in Dehradun, comprising nearly 200 families, caters to residents’ social, recreational, educational, wellness and health-related needs. Its second senior living community in Noida’s Sector-150 has started welcoming families into the 340 apartments built in Phase 1. In Gurugram, Antara will manage senior living residences, dedicated spaces for senior living and primary healthcare services at Estate 360 and Estate 361, developed by group company Max Estates.
Antara’s Assisted Care Services include Care Homes and Services, AGEasy, and Antara Integrated Wellness Clinic. This business caters to seniors who require more immersive interventions in their daily lives because of medical or age-related issues.
With eight facilities and 485 beds across Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru and Chennai, Care Homes provide long-term care for seniors requiring constant medical and nursing supervision, as well as short-term recuperation services. Its care-at-home services, available in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Chennai, provide trained professionals and care facilities for seniors in the comfort of their homes.
AGEasy, Antara’s direct-to-consumer business arm focused on senior-specific products and solutions for active ageing, has touched over 9 lakh lives since its inception in 2023. Antara Integrated Wellness Clinic combines modern medicine with evidence-based traditional therapies through a multidisciplinary team of doctors to deliver personalised care plans.
Through SCALE, Antara Senior Care, Max India Foundation and ISB aim to strengthen the research and industry collaboration needed to inform care models, investment decisions and public policy as India responds to the changing needs of its ageing population.
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