Vandana Agarwal is only 54, but she’s already planning to place a deposit on an apartment in a retirement community close to New Delhi that she and her husband will move into when they reach their 70s. With their only son settled in the US, the couple were on the lookout for someplace to land as they get older. On a visit to the community, called Antara Noida, they were impressed by the modern, spacious facilities—and by safety features such as anti-skid floor tiles, call buttons and doctors on standby in case of emergency. “I know my child will not move to India,” Agarwal says. “And we won’t be comfortable in the US if we move there.”

Indian culture places paramount importance on respect for elders, with multigenerational households the norm. Yet with millions of Indians pursuing careers abroad and sending cash home to their parents, families such as the Agarwals have money to spend but can no longer depend on their offspring to care for them as they age. That’s sparked a boom in retirement communities. “We are all living longer, and people want to be more in control of their destinies rather than children making those calls for them,” says Meeta Malhotra, a consultant working with companies building senior-care facilities. “More people in the 50s and 60s are proactively beginning to make decisions around their later years.”

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