Indian diaspora families face growing eldercare strain

New data points to a growing caregiving burden among Indians aged 40-55 living abroad, as ageing parents at home and children overseas pull families in two directions. Samarth Elder Care says demand for professional support has surged as more NRI families look for trusted help managing parents' care in India.

Why it matters: - Indian professionals abroad are increasingly carrying caregiving responsibilities across borders. - The pressure is hitting families already balancing work, children and ageing parents at the same time. - Fewer than 1% of India's elderly have access to organised care, widening the gap between need and support.

What happened: - New data highlights the strain on Indians aged 40-55 living outside India, especially those supporting parents at home. - Pew Research Center found that 54% of adults in their 40s have a living parent aged 65 or older while also raising or supporting their own children. - Samarth Elder Care says it has supported tens of thousands of seniors across hundreds of Indian cities for diaspora families in 33+ countries. - Asheesh Gupta, founder and CEO of Samarth Elder Care, said the company built a professional care system over the last 10 years to provide medical coordination, emergency response, concierge services and companionship.

The details: - The National Alliance for Caregiving, citing AARP data from 2025, found that 56% of adult caregivers say caregiving harms their mental health. - The same data found that 41% of caregivers feel lonely in their role. - India's Longitudinal Ageing Study, or LASI, reports that elderly parents left behind by migrant children have significantly higher rates of functional disability than older adults living with family. - LASI also found higher depression rates and more daily activity limitations among elderly women in this group. - The study found that 13.1% of adult children send money home, while many still struggle with guilt over not being physically present. - Samarth Elder Care says demand from NRI families has grown sharply since COVID as families look for ageing-at-home support backed by references, systems and a mix of technology and in-person care. - Samarth Elder Care was founded in 2016 by alumni of IIT, IIM, Cambridge, Yale and McKinsey. - The company says it operates across 350+ cities in India, serves families in 33+ countries and is backed by Social Alpha, established by Tata Trusts. - Samarth's services include in-home care with a dedicated care manager, community and wellbeing programmes, and clinical care through the Samarth Clinic for Healthy Ageing.

Between the lines: - The data suggests the Indian diaspora's caregiving problem is not only emotional, but structural. - Distance makes ordinary eldercare challenges harder to manage and turns trust into a major decision factor. - Samarth's pitch is built around solving that trust gap with a managed, on-the-ground model rather than ad hoc family coordination.

What's next: - Demand for organized eldercare among NRIs is likely to keep rising as India's ageing population grows and more families stay geographically split. - Samarth Elder Care appears positioned to expand further if more diaspora families choose professional care management over informal arrangements. - The company says its goal is to give families assurance of high-quality care when they cannot be present themselves.

The bottom line: - For many NRI families, eldercare has become a cross-border systems problem, not just a personal one.