Walkers and power chairs on rent for seniors, chosen and fitted at home
TL;DR Mobilityrent sends a physiotherapist to an older person's home to check balance, strength and the layout of the flat, then rents the aid that fits - a stick, walker, rollator, transit chair or power chair. Families pay monthly and swap the aid as needs change, instead of buying the wrong one.
India had 149 million people over 60 in 2022, and their share of the population is set to double by 2050[1]. Falls are common. In the national LASI survey, 16.6% of over-60s had fallen in the previous two years, and 13.5% had a fall injury that needed medical attention[2].
Walking aids, though, are rare. Among adults over 45 who used any assistive device, only 11.62% used a walking stick or walker and 0.29% a wheelchair[3]. The survey couldn't measure unmet need, so nobody knows how many go without.
What do families do today? They buy something off a pharmacy shelf after the first fall, at the wrong height and with no training, and it ends up gathering dust in a corner.
What it does, in regulatory terms: it assesses fit, rents and maintains licensed off-the-shelf mobility aids, and trains the user. It does not diagnose or treat any condition. The physio's visit is a fitting check, and a doctor's referral is still the route for medical problems.
A booking leads to a one-hour home visit. The physio watches the person stand, turn and walk, measures door widths, bathroom thresholds and the route to the lift, and recommends one aid. Mobilityrent delivers it the same week, sets the height and teaches the person and their carer to use it on their own floors. A second visit at two weeks checks whether it's actually being used. When strength improves after surgery or declines with age, the aid gets swapped rather than sold.
I reframed the seed, which pitched AI-powered personal transport for seniors with balance problems. A frail older person who already struggles to balance is the wrong rider for a new powered vehicle. Good power chairs and scooters already exist[4], and the gap is choosing and fitting them.
The user is usually over 70, often recovering from a fall, fracture or stroke, and the payer is an adult child. Today the family buys outright - power chairs from one Bengaluru maker run ₹92,000 to ₹3,46,000, a mobility scooter ₹1,55,000 and manual wheelchairs ₹18,000 to ₹29,000[4]. A monthly rental with fitting and swaps is my assumption to test. Hospital discharge desks and orthopaedic clinics are referral partners, not payers.
Since October 2022, Class A and B medical devices sold in India have come under licensing, and Class C and D followed in October 2023[5]. That makes it easier to build a rental fleet only from licensed makers and importers. The government's own aids scheme was revised in September 2024 but is tied to disability certification[6], which leaves most older families paying out of pocket.
There's no public figure for India's mobility-aid rental market. The bottom-up number is rough - applying LASI's 16.6% two-year fall rate[2] to 149 million over-60s[1] gives about 2.5 crore people with a recent fall.
That mixes a 2017-18 rate with 2022 population, so treat it as an order of magnitude and nothing more. One home-healthcare company already rents wheelchairs and walkers monthly[7], which shows families will rent rather than buy.
Home-healthcare companies list wheelchairs and walkers for rent or purchase but publishes no prices and offers no fitting visit[7]. One Indian mobility-aid maker makes power chairs and scooters, runs experience centres and claims pan-India service, but it sells rather than rents[4]. The ADIP scheme funds free aids through ALIMCO and district centres for people with certified disabilities[6].
I found nobody who combines a home assessment with a rental that changes as the person does.
| Difficulty | Moderate (40/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹60 L–1.1 Cr |
| Time to launch | 4–6 months |
The products exist, so the work is all in the field. You need physios who'll do home visits on a schedule, a van and a technician to deliver, adjust and collect, and a cleaning and repair bay so returned power chairs go back out safe. Utilisation drives everything, and an idle ₹1 lakh power chair kills the margin.
Partly. The aids are medical devices, so the rules depend on what you stock.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
AI should not pick an aid on its own or judge fall risk. That stays with the physio and the person's doctor, because Mobilityrent fits aids and does not diagnose anything.
Want to work out the AI layer for Mobilityrent? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this is a solid service business for a founder with physiotherapy or home-care operations experience, started in one city with a hospital referral partner. If you were hoping to build a vehicle then this is not it.
Prove two things first - 40 families renting after a home visit in three months, and at least 70% still using the aid at the two-week check.
Plan for roughly ₹60 L–1.1 Cr, with most of it going into the rental fleet, a van and a repair bay.
Buy only from makers and importers licensed under the Medical Devices Rules. Whether you need a state seller registration to rent them is unclear, so ask your state drug controller.
Yes, ageing populations exist in most countries. Device and home-care rules vary, so check how your country classifies walkers and power chairs.
The free Mobilityrent validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the medical-device and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for families and referral partners, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Mobilityrent or something close to it? The make-or-break work is keeping power chairs rented out and physio visits on schedule in one city, and I'm happy to think that through with you. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.