India’s senior care needs are changing much faster than most families realise. As lifespans increase, chronic conditions rise and more households shift to nuclear or NRI-led structures, the question is no longer “who will look after ageing parents?”- it is “who can provide continuous, medical and emotional support outside the hospital, with dignity and structure?” In this context, KITES Senior Care, part of the Lifebridge Group, is betting on an “out-of-hospital” senior care ecosystem that combines assisted living, rehabilitation, dementia and palliative care, backed by technology and clinically governed processes.
In this conversation, Rajagopal G, Co‑Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lifebridge Group, explains why KITES is doubling its bed capacity, how it is stitching together housing, care and AgeTech, and what India must change in policy and insurance to make organised eldercare truly accessible.
1. KITES plans to expand from 450+ to nearly 1,000 beds by 2027. What problem in India’s eldercare landscape are you trying to solve with this scale-up?
At KITES Senior Care, we see a growing gap between the rising elderly population in India and the availability of trusted, integrated senior care solutions. Families today are looking for dependable eldercare that combines medical support, assisted living, rehabilitation, home care, Dementia/Alzheimer’s care, palliative care, and emotional well-being within a single ecosystem.
Our expansion from 450+ to nearly 1,000 beds by 2027 is aimed at addressing this gap by creating scalable, high-quality senior care communities and care services that offer dignity, safety, companionship, and continuity of care for seniors across different stages of ageing.
2. Why did you choose Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi as the next centres of expansion, and what kind of demand are you already seeing in these markets?
We chose Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi because these cities have a strong and growing senior population, rising healthcare awareness, and an increasing number of nuclear and NRI families seeking dependable eldercare solutions for their parents. Families today are looking for professionally managed senior care ecosystems that provide not just medical support, but also safety, dignity, and quality of life for seniors.
3. Of your specialised services- dementia care, rehabilitation, assisted living and palliative care, which is growing fastest, and why?
While we see a rising demand among all our specialised services, Rehabilitation continues to be a major driver because more families are seeking structured post-hospitalisation and transitional care for seniors after surgeries, strokes, fractures, or critical illnesses. At the same time, dementia care demand is rising rapidly due to increasing awareness, longer life expectancy, and the need for specialised memory care environments that families often find difficult to manage at home.
We are also seeing steady growth in assisted living and palliative care, as Indian families increasingly look for professionally managed, compassionate long-term care solutions that ensure dignity, safety, and quality of life for seniors.
4. You describe KITES as an “out-of-hospital senior care” platform. In simple terms, what does that mean for a family deciding between hospital, nursing home and KITES?
At KITES Senior Care, “out-of-hospital senior care” means providing continuous medical and supportive care for seniors in a more comfortable, homely, and holistic environment outside a traditional hospital setting, which includes caring at care centres and at the homes of seniors as well.
For families, these solutions focus on recovery, rehabilitation, assisted living, dementia care, and long-term wellness with medical supervision, personalised attention, emotional support, and community engagement.
The idea is to help seniors heal, live, and age with dignity in an environment that feels safe, compassionate, and less clinical, while still ensuring access to professional healthcare support whenever needed.
5. How do you work with hospitals today for referrals, post-discharge care and readmission avoidance? Can you share one concrete example of a successful partnership?
At present, we do not have formal institutional arrangements with hospitals. Our approach has been to work closely with super-specialists, physicians, and hospital teams to create awareness about the importance of structured out-of-hospital geriatric care for elderly patients.
Many doctors today recognise that while hospitals are best suited for acute medical intervention, seniors often require continued rehabilitation, nursing support, dementia care, palliative support, or assisted recovery after discharge. We engage with clinicians to help families understand the benefits of these specialised care environments.
For example, elderly patients recovering after stroke, fractures, major surgeries, or prolonged ICU stays are often referred to us for supervised recovery and rehabilitation before transitioning back home. In several such cases, structured monitoring, therapies, nutrition, and nursing support have helped improve recovery outcomes while reducing stress for families and lowering the possibility of avoidable readmissions.
We believe this collaborative approach between hospitals and specialised geriatric care providers will become increasingly important as India’s ageing population grows.
6. What specific technologies are you using right now in your centres and home care services, and how have they changed outcomes or caregiver workloads?
At KITES Senior Care, we are increasingly leveraging technology to improve both clinical outcomes and operational efficiency across our centres and home care services. This includes digital patient monitoring systems, electronic medical records, remote health tracking, emergency response systems, teleconsultation support, and integrated care management platforms.
These technologies help our teams monitor seniors more proactively, maintain continuity of care, reduce response times during emergencies, and improve coordination between doctors, nurses, therapists, caregivers, and families. For families, it brings greater transparency and peace of mind through regular updates and better visibility into the senior’s health journey.
From a caregiver perspective, technology reduces manual documentation, streamlines workflows, improves scheduling and care coordination, and allows teams to spend more quality time with patients rather than on administrative tasks.
7. You’re investing ₹40 crore for this phase of growth. Where will most of that money go- real estate, technology, clinical teams, or something else?
A significant part of the investment will go towards expanding specialised care infrastructure and building high-quality clinical and caregiving teams in the months to come.
Senior care is ultimately a people-intensive business. Creating trained geriatric nursing teams, rehabilitation specialists, dementia caregivers, and operational leadership is critical to delivering quality outcomes consistently.
At the same time, we are investing meaningfully in technology, care processes, training systems, and brand building because organised eldercare in India is still at a relatively early stage. We are not just building facilities; we are building long-term institutional capability in geriatric care.
8. As part of the Lifebridge Group with Serene Communities and seniorshield, how does a senior actually experience this “integrated ecosystem” across housing, care and AgeTech?
Through the Lifebridge Group ecosystem, a senior experiences seamless support across every stage of ageing, from active senior living to assisted care and healthcare support.
With Serene Communities, seniors can enjoy independent and community-based living designed specifically for their lifestyle and wellness needs. If their care requirements evolve, KITES Senior Care provides access to assisted living, rehabilitation, dementia care, home healthcare, and medical support services.
At the same time, SeniorShield adds an Age Tech layer through technology-enabled monitoring, emergency support, and connected care services that enhance safety, convenience, and family connectivity.
Together, the ecosystem ensures that seniors and their families do not have to navigate ageing through disconnected services; instead, they receive integrated housing, healthcare, wellness, and technology support within one trusted network.
9. Being backed by Dr Ranjan Pai’s MEMG family office adds strong healthcare credibility. How does this back influence your clinical standards and growth ambitions?
Being backed by the MEMG family office provides us with deep healthcare credibility and a strong foundation in clinical governance. It helps us stay anchored to hospital-grade protocols, evidence-based care practices, and a strong focus on patient safety and quality outcomes across all our centres at KITES.
On the clinical side, it strengthens access to medical expertise and a culture of continuous improvement in care delivery. On the growth side, it gives us the confidence to scale faster but responsibly, by building an integrated senior care infrastructure that is clinically robust, operationally scalable, and aligned with long-term healthcare needs in India’s ageing population.
10. What are the top two policy or reimbursement changes you would like to see from the government or insurers to make organised eldercare more accessible and affordable in India?
First, India needs clearer policy recognition and regulatory frameworks for organised senior care, assisted living, dementia care, and rehabilitation facilities as distinct categories within the healthcare and ageing ecosystem. Formal recognition will help improve standards, investments, financing, and public confidence.
Second, we would like to see stronger insurance participation in out-of-hospital geriatric care, rehabilitation, dementia support, palliative care, and assisted living-related services. Today, many families pay entirely out of pocket, despite these being medically essential needs for seniors.
As India ages, healthcare systems cannot rely only on hospitals. Organised eldercare and transitional care infrastructure will become equally important components of the healthcare continuum.
