LIC to set up old age homes

BANGALORE: Setting up old age homes and maintaining them for the aged till now was the privy of the charitable institutions. The country''s largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation, is now entering this space.
LIC, along with its housing finance company, is setting up homes for the senior citizens with all amenities. The project coming up on the outskirts of Bangalore (on Tumkur road) is expected to be completed in 15 months.
Announcing this at a press conference, LIC chairman, S B Mathur, said 108 independent bunglows would be constructed in a 10.6 acre plot.The houses will be of three dimensions -- 400 sq.ft, 600 sq.ft and 800 sq.ft and would be priced at Rs 4.89 lakhs, Rs 6.89 lakhs and Rs 8.89 lakhs, respectively.
The residents would also have access to other common facilities such as community kitchen and dining, medical centre, library, community hall, etc. Booking for the houses will be open to the public in the next few months.
According to Mathur, the growing population of the aged -- which is expected to touch 37 crore people in 2047 from the current level of nine crore individuals, has made the company look at this project. "Pension along will not take care of old people" he added.
Besides Bangalore, LIC is planning to set up similar projects in Hyderabad and Cochin in the next 2-3 years. Each centre would have 100-200 units, depending on the are of the land. All the projects would be implemented by the group''s new company, LIC HFL Care Homes.