Rent-a-Grandchild: India’s Growing Business of Selling Companionship to Lonely Seniors

In the Indian city of Gurugram, just outside New Delhi, an elderly couple head out to the market with a young man walking beside them. He is not their grandson. He is 26-year-old Roney Raju, a man they pay to be one.

Across India’s big cities, a small but growing number of companies are now selling something families once took for granted: someone to look after ageing parents. The workers take seniors to the temple, sit with them during hospital visits, play cards with them, or simply listen to them talk. Some firms call these workers “children for hire”. Others call them a “grandchild for rent”.

It is a strange idea at first. But behind it sits a real problem: India is growing older fast, and millions of its older people are lonely.

A hired grandson in Gurugram

S Budhiraja is in his 80s. Both of his daughters live in the United States. When he and his wife go out in Gurugram, Raju goes with them.

Raju holds a master’s degree in social work. He has been looking after the Budhirajas for the last few months, and the bond between them has grown quickly.

“I was comfortable with him from the get-go,” Budhiraja told Al Jazeera. “I feel he understands me 200 percent.”

Raju feels the same way. “Right now, he is family to me,” he said. The couple, he said, see him as “their proxy child, and much more than a service companion”.

The relationship goes beyond office hours. When Budhiraja was admitted for surgery, Raju kept track of the doctors and the medicines. He would even call to check on the couple after his shift had ended.

Asked how he would feel if Raju did not show up for work tomorrow, Budhiraja was direct: “I will make sure he comes after finding out why he couldn’t come. I need him. As you grow older, the needs are more.”

A growing industry

Raju’s boss is Gaurav Mittal, who runs one of these companion companies in Gurugram. He says many clients end up treating their companions “like their own grandchildren”.

Mittal charges 450 rupees (about $5) an hour for 10 hours of service in a month, or 400 rupees (about $4.50) per hour if a family books 25 hours. Like a mobile phone recharge, unused hours are rolled over to the next month.

The idea for the company came from Mittal’s own 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 money to spend, but she depended on family members to go anywhere.

“The world is not designed keeping the senior citizens as the central pillar,” Mittal said.

The idea is not entirely new. 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 says: “Everything Grandkids Do!”

Several Indian startups now see a business opportunity in elder care. The Indian government estimates the senior care industry at about $7 billion.

The companions who work for these companies are checked before they start. They undergo police verification, and before working alone they often shadow a senior staff member on home visits. Most are trained in psychology, social work or hospitality.

Why India is growing old — and lonely

India is the world’s most populous country, and it is ageing quickly. According to the India Ageing Report 2023, published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Institute for Population Sciences, people over 60 made up 10.5 percent of India’s population in 2022 — about 149 million people.

By 2050, that share is projected to nearly double to 20.8 percent, or about 347 million people. That is almost the same as the entire population of the United States, the world’s third most populous nation. The same report projects that older Indians will outnumber the country’s children by 2046.

Many of these older people are lonely. In 2022, India carried out the Longitudinal Ageing Study, a national survey of more than 72,000 people. It found that 20.5 percent of middle-aged and older adults reported moderate loneliness, while 13.3 percent said their loneliness was severe. Among people over 60 who lived alone, more than a third — 37 percent — reported feeling lonely.

This is not only an Indian problem. A study commissioned by the World Health Organization in 2025 found that loneliness affects one in six people around the world and is linked to about 871,000 deaths a year.

What a companion actually does

Vinay Kumar works as a companion for a firm based in Hyderabad, in southern India. He describes the job in simple terms.

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

Kumar says companions have to “understand their pain”. Many of the seniors he visits live alone and are very lonely. They want someone to play cards or indoor games with. Someone wants to go to a movie, or a temple, or a park, or attend a local programme.

The work can turn into something close to family. Kumar recalled one client who first shut the door on his face because he did not know English or Hindi. The man later paid for Kumar’s driving lessons and introduced him to people 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 because one of his clients kept calling, asking him to come. “I genuinely feel these seniors are my own parents and grandparents,” he said.

Santosh Abraham runs a Bengaluru-based startup founded in 2015. He says the children of elderly people usually worry about medical emergencies or market errands. Their parents mostly have a different concern.

“I am lonely, I don’t have anyone to talk to,” Abraham recalled one client saying. “I have done so much for my family and society; there is no recognition for it.”

Abraham says the most common request he gets is one that “nobody says out loud”. A senior calls the company claiming to feel unwell. A care manager arrives, finds nothing wrong, and is then asked to sit and talk for an hour. “They just want company.”

He says some seniors find a stranger easier to confide in. “With a companion, there is no baggage,” he told Al Jazeera.

The limits of the job

The companies are careful about what their workers can and cannot do. Prashanth Reddy, founder of the Hyderabad-based company that Kumar works for, says companions must understand boundaries.

“Companions are there to provide support, not to replace doctors or mental health professionals,” he said.

Abraham agrees. He says he underlines one golden rule during training sessions with aspiring companions: “Talk less and listen more.”

For the young people doing the work, the line between a job and a relationship blurs quickly. Raju says 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 said.

Kumar says his clients often tell him about health problems that they hide from their children living in another city or abroad, so as not to worry them.

Who can afford a hired grandson?

The service is not cheap by Indian standards. In a country with an average per capita income of about 220,000 rupees ($2,750) a year, Mittal’s service caters to a small minority of urban, financially secure families.

That raises a fair question: is paid companionship only for the rich? For now, yes, mostly. The families who use these services tend to live in big cities, have money to spare, and often have children living abroad who pay for the service from another country.

The children of such elderly people say paying takes out the awkwardness of asking neighbours or relatives for help. “When you pay for a service, you don’t have to feel like you’re asking someone for a favour,” says Vinnay K, a US-based software professional who has been hiring a companion for his ageing mother for five years.

But the need is far wider than the market. Millions of older Indians live alone or feel lonely, and most cannot pay 400 rupees an hour for company. The $7 billion industry figure shows how big the business could become — but it also shows how much of the need is still unmet.

Is it right to pay for family?

Not everyone is comfortable with the idea. In a society like India’s, where family has always been the centre of old-age care, hiring a stranger to play the role of a grandchild can feel wrong.

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

She said a growing demand for professional elderly care raises harder questions about a family-centred society like India’s. “Do we recognise ‘companionship’ as a legitimate and continuing need of our older family members or see eldercare mainly as food, shelter, healthcare and physical help?” she asked.

She argued for “a more balanced ecosystem of ageing” that brings together families, community networks, accessible public spaces and affordable professional services, without romanticising traditional family structures or dismissing new ones.

“At the end of the day, the question isn’t who lives with an older person,” she said, “but rather whether the older person feels seen, heard, safe, valued, and meaningfully connected”.

What this tells us about the future

India’s ageing is only going to speed up. By 2050, one in five Indians will be over 60. Many of their children will live in other cities or other countries. The old pattern — three generations under one roof, with grandparents looked after by family — is already fading in India’s cities.

The “rent-a-grandchild” business is one answer to that change. It is imperfect: it costs money, it serves mainly the well-off, and it asks young workers to carry an emotional load that is hard to price. But for the Budhirajas in Gurugram, and for thousands of families like them, it fills a gap that nothing else fills right now.

The deeper question is the one Bandyopadhyay asks: will societies treat companionship as a real need, like food and medicine — or will loneliness remain something older people are expected to bear quietly, on their own?

For Roney Raju, the answer is simple. He shows up, he listens, and he stays in touch after his shift ends. In a country where 347 million people will be over 60 within a generation, that may be the most valuable service of all.

Frequently asked questions

What is a “rent-a-grandchild” service?

It is a paid service in India where companies send a young, trained companion to spend time with an elderly person — taking them to the temple or market, sitting with them at hospital visits, playing games, or simply talking with them.

How much does it cost?

One Gurugram-based company charges 450 rupees (about $5) an hour for 10 hours a month, or 400 rupees (about $4.50) an hour for 25 hours. Unused hours roll over to the next month.

How big is India’s elderly population?

About 149 million Indians were over 60 in 2022, or 10.5 percent of the population. The UNFPA projects that figure will reach about 347 million, or 20.8 percent, by 2050.

How lonely are India’s older people?

A 2022 national survey of more than 72,000 people found that 20.5 percent of middle-aged and older adults felt moderately lonely and 13.3 percent felt severely lonely. Among over-60s living alone, 37 percent reported feeling lonely.

Are the companions trained?

Yes. They usually undergo police verification, shadow a senior staff member before working alone, and are trained in psychology, social work or hospitality.

Is this only for rich families?

Mostly, for now. With average per capita income around 220,000 rupees ($2,750) a year, the service is mainly used by urban, financially secure families, often with children living abroad who pay for it.

Conclusion

India’s “rent-a-grandchild” companies are a small business built on a very large problem. As the country ages and families spread across cities and continents, millions of older people are left alone — and some families are now willing to pay strangers to fill the space a grandchild once filled.

The service works best when it is honest about what it is: paid company, not a replacement for family, doctors or mental health care. Its customers say the value is simple — someone who shows up, listens, and treats an older person as if they matter.

Whether that is a clever business, a sad sign of the times, or both, depends on who you ask. But with 347 million older Indians expected by 2050, the question of who keeps them company is only going to get bigger.

Sources

• Al Jazeera, “Rent-a-grandchild: Businesses offering companions to elderly grow in India”, 8 November 2026: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/8/rent-a-grandchild-businesses-offering-companions-to-elderly-grow-in-india
• UNFPA, India Ageing Report 2023: https://india.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/20230926_india_ageing_report_2023_web_version_.pdf
• Ground Report, “India ageing: elderly to make up 20% of population by 2050”: https://www.groundreport.in/latest/india-ageing-elderly-to-make-up-20-of-population-by-2050/
• CNBC TV18, “Young India today, rapidly ageing society 2050, reveals UNFPA report”: https://www.cnbctv18.com/lifestyle/young-india-today-rapidly-ageing-society-2050-reveals-unfpa-report-dynamics-explained-17903951.htm/amp

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.