Max India Foundation And ISB Launch SCALE With Antara Senior Care As Founding Industry Partner To Advance Senior-Care Research

Delhi, India: Antara Senior Care, India’s only integrated senior care ecosystem offering solutions across all stages of ageing, has joined SCALE (Senior Care Advancement Through Learning and Evidence) initiative as a founding industry partner to help strengthen the evidence and knowledge base needed to shape the future of senior care in India. The initiative is a collaboration between the Max India Foundation (MIF) and the Max Institute of Healthcare Management (MIHM) at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Supported by a multi-year CSR grant from MIF, SCALE aims to develop care propositions for the country’s rapidly growing senior population. 

India is witnessing an increasing demand for senior care that is accessible, appropriate and sustainable. As the industry expands across senior living, healthcare, AgeTech, financing and insurance, organisations and experts are generating valuable insights through practice and innovation. But these learnings remain fragmented. The SCALE Initiative seeks to address this gap by generating evidence and translating it into insights that can assist industry stakeholders and policymakers to make informed decisions. The initiative will focus on consumer behaviour, workforce participation, social inclusion, operating and care delivery models and their financing, and technology adoption. As the founding industry partner, Antara Senior Care is supporting SCALE’s engagement with the senior care sector.

The MoU for the initiative was exchanged between Tara Singh Vachani, Managing Trustee, Max India Foundation and Executive Chairperson, Antara Senior Care, and ISB Dean Madan Pillutla, in the presence of Rajit Mehta, MD and CEO, Antara Senior Care; Ishaan Khanna, CEO, Antara Assisted Care Services; Sarang Deo, Executive Director, MIHM at ISB; Karthik Balakrishnan, Deputy Dean – Faculty and Research, ISB; and DNV Kumara Guru, Senior Director – Advancement, Alumni Engagement and External Relations, ISB.

The SCALE Initiative will bring together researchers, senior care industry stakeholders and clinicians to examine the evolving care needs of seniors and identify priority action areas. The initiative will connect real-world industry challenges with research to impact service design, operating models, technology adoption, workforce planning, investment and innovation across the sector.

Tara Singh Vachani, Executive Chairperson, Antara Senior Care, said, “India's demographic transition presents an opportunity to build a deeper understanding of how seniors can lead healthier, more independent and fulfilling lives. As lifespan improves, seniors are seeking greater health, independence, purpose, dignity and choice. Meeting these aspirations requires a deeper understanding of their diverse needs and experiences. The SCALE Initiative brings together research, practitioner insights and stakeholder perspectives to strengthen the evidence base around ageing and care. Our aim is to translate this knowledge into more effective care models, stronger support systems and better outcomes for seniors and their families. Through this initiative, we hope to contribute to the broader national conversation on how India can prepare for and respond to the opportunities and challenges of an ageing society.”

Professor Sarang Deo, Executive Director, Max Institute of Healthcare Management, ISB, said, “India is entering a phase where the growing needs and aspirations of a senior population will require us to rethink how we design systems, services and markets for seniors. SCALE brings a management and evidence-based perspective to this challenge, examining how businesses, healthcare organisations and public institutions can respond to these changes across financing, technology, workforce participation, consumer and producer behaviour, and social inclusion. Through SCALE, our objective is to build a stronger evidence base that can inform both private-sector practice and public policy to shape more effective and sustainable responses to India's growing senior population.”

SCALE at MIHM will serve as a sustained research and industry engagement platform, enabling research collaborations, data partnerships, pilots, evaluations and knowledge exchange. Over time, it aims to build an industry-level evidence base to help organisations innovate, respond to evolving consumer needs, make informed business and investment decisions, strengthen workforce strategies and scale effective approaches. 

The initiative draws on Antara Senior Care’s experience of building an integrated continuum of care across senior living, care homes and services, wellness, and products and solutions for chronic disease management, bringing real-world insights to address the evolving needs of seniors and their families. This complements MIHM’s healthcare research expertise and ISB’s broader commitment to building knowledge and partnerships to address critical societal challenges. 

About Antara Senior Care

Launched in 2013, Antara is the senior-care business of Max India Limited, part of the USD6.3-billion Max Group. It is an integrated ecosystem for senior care, operating in two main lines of business – Residences for Seniors and Assisted Care Services. Antara’s first senior residential community in Dehradun, comprising nearly 200 families, caters to their social, recreational, educational, wellness, and health-related needs. Its second senior living community in Noida’s Sector-150 has started welcoming families into the 340 apartments built in Phase 1. Expanding its footprint in Gurugram, Antara will manage senior living residences, dedicated spaces for senior living, and primary healthcare services at Estate 360 and Estate 361, developed by group company Max Estates. Antara’s Assisted Care Services include Care Homes and Services, AGEasy, and Antara Integrated Wellness Clinic. This line of business caters to seniors, who need more immersive interventions in their daily lives due to medical or age-related issues. With eight facilities and 485 beds across Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru and Chennai, Care Homes provide long-term care to seniors who require constant medical and nursing supervision, and short-term care services for recuperation of seniors. Its care at home services, offered in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Chennai, provide well-equipped, trained professionals offering care to seniors inside their home’s comfort. AGEasy, the direct-to-consumer business arm focusing on senior-specific products and solutions for active ageing, has touched over 9 lakh lives since inception in 2023. Antara Integrated Wellness Clinic combines modern medicine with evidence-based traditional therapies through a multidisciplinary team of doctors to deliver personalised care plans.