Boomerang Generation: India’s middle class is back under one roof, CEO warns

A growing number of people in their 30s in India’s cities are quietly moving back in with their parents – not out of choice, but economic necessity. Their return home, dubbed the “Boomerang Generation,” creates modern joint families that no one planned for — and no one is quite ready to move on.

Shantanu Deshpande, founder of Bombay Shaving Company, sparked interest this week with a viral LinkedIn post predicting adults will return to their childhood homes across urban India.

“Careers didn’t start as planned… Houses are unaffordable, especially ones where a person grew up. Who’s going to demote?” Deshpande wrote, citing a combination of stalled professional growth, rising costs of living, and rising debt as key drivers of the shift. The result, he says, is a “forced joint family” — four to five adults under one roof, all of whom value autonomy but are constrained by financial pressures.

This reflects a rising trend in the United States known as “central sons” — a combination of “husband” and “son” — which describes adult men who live at home and adopt caregiver roles for their parents, often while searching for work or managing work remotely. Many of them cook, clean, and handle household logistics while their parents work full time.

Behind the humor of “hub son” memes lies a grim reality: economic recession. Pew Research Center data shows that nearly one in three American adults between the ages of 18 and 34 live with their parents, with men more likely to do so than women. Similar numbers are emerging in India’s metros, especially after the pandemic.

Deshpande believes that the emotional toll may rival the economic toll. Parents bear the weight of unfulfilled dreams – often projecting their own aspirations onto children – while returning sons and daughters suffer a loss of confidence and marked decline.

He points out that even routine actions like ordering food, hosting friends, or planning a vacation become “serious friction” under one roof.

With real estate prices rising and salaries stagnating, India’s young professionals may face not just a housing crisis, but a generational clash.