New Delhi, Oct. 10 -- India is ageing-and we aren't ready for it.

While we've made significant progress in increasing life expectancy and building retirement solutions, we have overlooked one of the most critical needs of old age: care. Not hospitalisation, not medication-but everyday human care.

Retirement planning today is primarily focused on financial instruments such as pension funds, savings schemes, or annuity plans. But what happens when ageing brings with it Parkinson's, dementia, severe arthritis and extreme loneliness, and your real need is for someone to help with your daily tasks: taking a bath, putting on clothes, taking your medicine and eating a meal?

This is the silent crisis we're heading toward, and it's time we addr...