Senior care enterprises offer foreign buyers opportunity

The senior care industry in China is a sector in which the government is focusing its support. China has a population of approximately 200 million elderly, a number that will increase to 400 million by 2050, making China the country with the world’s largest population of people aged 60 and older.

Generally speaking, the industry consists of four broad segments: the senior care service industry; senior care real property industry; senior care finance industry; and senior care product industry. As investment in certain economic sectors is approaching saturation, and the aging population problem becomes more serious, the central government is actively encouraging private investment and the entry of foreign capital into the industry.

The Catalogue for Guiding Foreign Investment in Industry encourages foreign investors to invest in and establish senior care facilities in China. Domestic senior care facilities are also eligible for incentive policies, which are available to qualified foreign investors. For example, with regard to tax incentives, the Implementing Opinions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Encouraging and Guiding Private Capital into the Senior Care Service Sector specify that: business tax is exempted on care services offered by senior care facilities and service facilities established with private capital; qualified non-profit senior care facilities and service facilities are exempted from real property tax and the urban land use tax on the real property and land that they use, and the tax-exempt revenue is not counted as part of their income subject to income tax; and the various types of senior care facilities and service facilities pay the same price for electricity, water, gas and heating as residential households in accordance with relevant regulations.

Maria Ma Lihong is a partner at East & Concord Partners