PM’s economic advisory panel flags demand surge for caregivers, seeks policy overhaul for sector

Prime Minister’s economic advisory panel EAC-PM has called for an overhaul of frameworks related to the care sector, with the demand for caregivers in the country projected to exceed 30 million by 2050. The Economic Advisory Council to the PM (EAC-PM) has also pitched for setting up a dedicated fund and building a skilled and well-remunerated care workforce.

In a working paper titled ‘Re-imagining the Care Economy: From Private Burden to Social and Economic Infrastructure’, EAC-PM has also called for directing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds towards care sector projects.

Further, it has suggested setting up a ‘Carepreneur Fund’ to offer finance at concessional rates to entrepreneurs and co-operatives.
Besides, the paper recommended the Ministry of Labour and Employment to introduce phased reforms in parental leaves, beginning with statutory paid paternal leaves in the private sector, followed by a gender balanced parental leave policy.

It also emphasised the need for expansion of innovative financing for the development of care infrastructure and ‘carepreneurs’.

The paper proposed setting up an outcome-based government-to-government (G2G) fund, Parivar Seva Kosh (Family Care Fund), under the finance ministry.

Investments in the care economy present three interconnected opportunities for India, the paper said, adding, “First, the care sector can generate significant employment in both domestic and global markets with rising demand for care workers.

“Second, greater investment in the care economy can deepen family-friendly policies that reduce time poverty, cushion households from childcare income shocks, especially in the informal sector, and raise caregiver labour force participation,” it said.

The paper also said that care economy investments can redistribute unpaid care responsibilities from households to the state and markets, while gender-neutral policies can actively encourage sharing of care labour between men and women.

India’s demographic profile is shifting – a growing share of elders and declining fertility, compounded by rapid urbanisation that is eroding the traditional family structures that have historically provided care.

Indian states are at varying stages of this demographic transition – from high child dependency to accelerating elderly dependency, it said.

Despite women’s unpaid care and domestic work contributing about 15-17 per cent of the GDP in economic value, investments in formal care provision remain limited, the paper said, adding that formal care is systematically underprovided and often expensive, owing to the underlying market failures.