Rent-a-grandchild: Businesses offering companions to elderly grow in India

New Delhi, India – Both daughters of S Budhiraja live in the United States.

Key points

• He charges 450 rupees ($5) an hour for 10 hours of service in a month, or 400 rupees ($4.5) per hour if it is 25 hours.
• The 2023 United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report projects that older Indians will outnumber the country's children by 2046.
• In 2022, India conducted the Longitudinal Ageing Study, a national survey of more than 72, 000 individuals.
• When the man died in 2023, his son asked Kumar to perform the final rites alongside him.

New Delhi, India – Both daughters of S Budhiraja live in the United States. When he and his wife head out to the market in Gurugram, a bustling business district on the outskirts of India's capital, a young man walks beside them, yet. It is 26-year-old Roney Raju, their "hired grandson".

Throughout Indian cities, a small but growing number of businesses are now selling what families once took for granted: someone to take care of ageing individuals. Chores include taking them to the temple, sitting with them during a hospital visit, playing cards, or simply listening to them.

Some firms call such workers "children for hire"; others call them a "grandchild for rent". India, the world's most populous country, is growing older rapidly.

Individuals over 60 produced up 10.5 percent of its population in 2022, a demographic projected to almost double to 21 percent by 2050, according to the India Ageing Report 2023 by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Institute for Population Sciences.

That means regarding 347 million elderly Indians – a number almost equal to the entire population of the US, the world's third most populous nation – will need specialised care by 2050.

For context, a number of Indian startups see the opportunity, with the Indian administration estimating the senior care industry at regarding $7bn.

Raju, holding a master's degree in social work, works for one such firm in Gurugram. He has been looking after the Budhirajas for the last few months.

"I was comfortable with him from the get-go, " Budhiraja, who is in his 80s, informed Al Jazeera. "I feel he understands me 200 percent."

Raju describes the bond in the same vein. "Right now, he is family to me, " he remarked. The couple, he remarked, see him as "their proxy child, and much more than a service companion".

Meanwhile, the bond has deepened over the past months. When Budhiraja was admitted for surgery, Raju kept track of the doctors and the medicines. He would even call to check on them after his shift had concluded.

Raju's boss Gaurav Mittal notes numerous clients actually come to treat their companions "like their own grandchildren".

He charges 450 rupees ($5) an hour for 10 hours of service in a month, or 400 rupees ($4.5) per hour if it is 25 hours. Like a mobile phone recharge, unused hours are rolled over to the next month.

In a country with an average per capita income of regarding 220, 000 rupees ($2, 750) a year, Mittal's service caters to a small minority of urban, financially secure families.

Mittal remarked the idea for his business came from home. After his father died four years ago, his mother had to leave their hometown and move in with him. She was sociable and had funds to spend, but depended on family members to go anywhere.

"The world is not designed keeping the senior citizens as the central pillar, " Mittal remarked. The idea for such startups, nevertheless, is not entirely new.

For context, a 2017 report counted at least five startups offering young companions to seniors. In 2022, the late Ratan Tata of the Tata Group promoted a Mumbai-based startup whose tagline notes: "Everything Grandkids Do!"

For context, the companions who work for these firms undergo police verification before they start working for a senior person. Before working alone, they often shadow a senior staff member on home visits. Most companions are trained in psychology, social work or hospitality.

Vinay Kumar works as a companion for a firm based in the southern city of Hyderabad.

"We are not just taskmasters, but we develop a relationship with our clients. We backing them and spend quality time with them so that they don't miss their close ones, " he informed Al Jazeera. "They may still do, but we try."

In practice, the 2023 United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report projects that older Indians will outnumber the country's children by 2046. And plenty of of these seniors are lonely.

In 2022, India conducted the Longitudinal Ageing Study, a national survey of more than 72, 000 individuals. While 13.3 percent categorised their loneliness as severe, it discovered that 20.5 percent of middle-aged and older adults noted moderate loneliness.

Among individuals over 60 who lived alone, more than a third (37 percent) noted feeling lonely, the study discovered.

Globally, a study commissioned by the World Health Organization in 2025 discovered that loneliness affects one in six residents and is linked to regarding 871, 000 deaths a year.

Santosh Abraham, CEO of a Bengaluru-based startup founded in 2015, notes while the children of elderly residents are worried regarding medical emergencies or market errands, their parents mostly had a different concern.

"I am lonely, I don't have anyone to talk to, " Abraham recalled one of his clients as saying. "I have done so much for my family and society; there is no recognition for it."

Abraham remarked the most common request he gets is one that "nobody says out loud".

"A senior calls us claiming to feel unwell. A care manager arrives, finds nothing wrong, and is then asked to sit and talk for an hour, " he remarked. "They just want company." Kumar remarked companions like him have to "understand their pain".

"Most of the seniors who are living alone are particularly lonely. They want someone to play cards or indoor games with. Someone wants to go to a movie, or a temple, or parks, or attend local programmes, " he remarked.

Abraham remarked some seniors find a stranger easier to confide in. "With a companion, there is no baggage, " he informed Al Jazeera.

For the young individuals doing the work, the line between their job and a relationship blurs swiftly.

Raju notes the visits to the Budhirajas are harder than office work. "Forming an emotional connection is never easy and is different each and every time, " he remarked.

Kumar, in Hyderabad, agrees. He remarked his clients often tell him concerning health challenges that they hide from their children living in another city or abroad so as not to worry them.

He recalled a client who went from shutting the door on his face since he did not know English or Hindi to paying for his driving lessons and introducing him to residents as his "god-gifted son". When the man died in 2023, his son asked Kumar to perform the final rites alongside him.

Kumar once even cut short his 12-day marriage leave since one of his clients kept calling, asking him to come. "I genuinely feel these seniors are my own parents and grandparents, " he remarked. 'Older person feels seen, heard, safe'. Others are more cautious regarding what the job demands.

Prashanth Reddy, founder of the Hyderabad-based firm that Kumar works for, stated companions must understand boundaries.

"Companions are there to provide support, not to replace doctors or mental health professionals, " he remarked.

Abraham agreed. He remarked he underlines one golden rule during his training sessions with aspiring companions: "Talk less and listen more."

Notably, the children of such elderly individuals who purchase the services of these firms say paying takes out the awkwardness of asking neighbours or relatives for assist.

"When you pay for a service, you don't have to feel like you're asking someone for a favour, " notes Vinnay K, a US-based software professional. This person has been hiring a companion for his ageing mother for five years.

Shilpa Bandyopadhyay, assistant professor at Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences near New Delhi, informed Al Jazeera that hiring a companion "should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that their families have failed".

In short, rent-a-grandchild: Businesses offering companions to elderly grow in India is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.