OCT. 30 (NBD) -- Compared with the goals set in the 13th five-year plan, the shortfall of hospital beds stood at 2.43 million in 2016. It is predicted that the supply gap will continue to rise by 8.04 million by 2030. To take better care of the aged population, the combination of medical treatment and other elderly care services should come into play. Furthermore, this offers opportunities to the insurance industry.

China's eldercare industry becomes more alluring when compared with ten years ago. Besides insurers like Taikang Insurance Group, the property developer Vanke and the internet giant Alibaba are also eyeing the sector.

Some people believe that an industry behemoth is highly likely to be created in this field. But Chen Dongsheng, founder of Taikang Insurance Group, holds a different idea.

To him, large-scale retirement communities are hardly highly profitable because it demands heavy assets and has a long investment cycle. As such, not a single company can dominate the whole industry. Accordingly, it's not likely that a dominant giant will solely stand out from others just like internet giants do.

Chen said that after being running for 2 years, Yanyuan, one of the company's retirement communities, is expected to break even this year. But there is still 20-30 years to go before the company can take all initial investments back, Chen added.

Eail: tanyuhan@nbd.com.