Retirement planning in India must move beyond the traditional focus on building a large retirement corpus and instead prioritise creating a steady and sustainable income stream that can support retirees throughout their post-retirement years, according to Anurag Gupta, Chief Business Officer, Partnership Channels and Head of Retirement at Axis Max Life Insurance Limited.
Gupta said the growing popularity of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement has encouraged many Indians to chase a target retirement corpus, but cautioned that wealth accumulation alone does not guarantee financial security. Since retirement can last two to three decades, the bigger challenge is ensuring that savings generate reliable monthly income while keeping pace with inflation and rising healthcare costs.
Citing a recent industry report on retirement readiness, Gupta noted that only around 37 per cent of respondents had accumulated even a quarter of their retirement target, while nearly seven in ten believed a corpus of Rs 1 crore would be sufficient despite increasing life expectancy and inflation. The study also found that only about one-third were confident their savings would last beyond ten years after retirement.
He stressed that retirement plans should combine regular income with liquidity to meet unforeseen medical expenses and changing financial needs, while also supporting legacy planning. According to Gupta, future-ready retirement solutions should integrate wealth creation, income generation, inflation protection, liquidity and estate planning rather than addressing these needs separately.
In Guwahati, awareness about retirement planning has been steadily increasing among salaried professionals, government employees and young investors in the city. With rising living costs and longer life expectancy, there is growing demand for retirement-oriented investment and insurance products that offer predictable income, flexibility and long-term financial security, reflecting a broader shift from lump-sum wealth accumulation to sustainable retirement income planning.