By Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – T.L. Wali, a Delhi high court lawyer aged 66, was looking forward to retiring.

However, India’s rising living expenses have forced him to tap into his savings. He will now need to work longer to cover medicine, travel, and other household costs.

“I cannot even consider retirement,” he said to Reuters in a post office, from which he was trying to withdraw funds.

Wali cut down on fruits, dining out and visiting relatives. According to Wali, his income now amounts less than half that before COVID-19 was struck. His clients are no longer able to pay the same amount as before and his savings earn less in inflation adjusted terms.

Although he is more financially secure than most of his peers, Wali, like millions of Indians over 60 years old has had to face difficult decisions due to inflation.

As a result of the global pandemic and the worsening Ukraine conflict, sharply increasing prices have been felt by older Americans.

India has a poor system of state pensions that means only a few retirees are able to afford healthcare. There are close to 15 million Indians over 60, which is around 10% of India’s total.

India’s April headline inflation was 7.79%, an eight-year record.

Nearly half of all consumer price indexes are based on food. Prices for wheat, bread, milk, eggs, tomatoes, spices, meat, fish, etc. have increased by 10% to 25% over a single year. More than 40% of petrol and cooking gas prices rose.

Anupama Datta is director of HelpAge India. She stated that inflation was the greatest threat to the elderly. The charity estimates that almost 90 million out of the 138 million Indians over 60 are employed to make enough money to support their families.

India’s central bank has warned that rising inflation could continue until September.

DIPPING INTO SALVINGS

For their retirement, many Indian pensioners depend on decades of savings.

While there is no estimate, many pensioners’ associations stated that they are forced to withdraw more money from these accounts now than ever before.

India’s gross savings rate has fallen below 30% from its GDP during the March fiscal year, which was 32% prior to the pandemic. According to economists, this trend is unlikely to change in the coming year.

In the three-year period, average long-term interest rates have fallen to 6% (from 8.5%) and are now below headline inflation.

Some pensioners are switching to more risky investments like mutual funds after enjoying two years of good returns. However, stocks have been struggling this year with the benchmark index falling over 6%.

India’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP as it is known, acknowledged that inflation has been especially hard on the elderly.

Gopal Krishna Agarwal was the BJP’s economic affairs spokesperson. He said that government had done all they could to provide protection, even through support for food and health care.

In its pandemic relief programmes, the government provides food grain for free to more than 800 million people.

The government announced over the weekend tax cuts and subsidy that would lower the prices for gasoline, diesel, and cooking gas.

It is unclear how much this will provide. The monthly state pension is 200 Indian Rupees (about $2.58) but some states may provide as much as 1,000 to 2,000 rupees per month.

Gita, 70, is a widowed labourer who lives in Kolkata’s eastern city. She said she was unable to afford any more than two meals daily on her 1,000 rupee monthly pension.

In front of her tiny, rented apartment in a slum, she stated that “often times I have to borrow/beg neighbours for their food.”

CARE CRUNCH

India, unlike other advanced countries, has few elderly-care facilities. Many retirees are dependent on their family for support. This puts extra pressure on those whose incomes were affected by the inflation pandemic.

According to Tata Trusts (the charitable arm of Tata Group), there were only 1,100 homes for elderly people in the country that could cater to around 100,000 persons before COVID-19.

They are largely dependent on donations from the public, and face many challenges when costs rise. These homes are less able to pay for vegetables and fruit due to rising food and medicine costs.

Saurabh Bhagat (director at SHEOWS), a Delhi-based charity, stated that the monthly costs of three SHEOWS homes, which cater to over 400 people each, have gone up nearly 20% recently.

Bhagat stated that “we can’t even think of buying fruit anymore, and we have reduced expenses on food supplementation that delays the recovery for sick people at our elderly homes,” Bhagat added.

He stated that the homes were receiving between 30-40 senior citizens a month, nearly triple what was last year.

Basanti Chand (61), a SHEOWS resident, claimed she was abandoned by her family despite having spent all of her savings in order to survive.

To pay for the dowries for her four daughters, she had earlier sold her house.

Her eyes were filled with tears, and she admitted that “I wouldn’t have survived today” if it hadn’t been for the shelter. Chand didn’t blame her children.

They are my children. “They are my kids… with their own problems.”