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Edtechs - Market size, Opportunities and Growth Ahead

Edtechs the future of Education

Twitter Handle: @shuchi_nahar

Need for Edtechs
In a dramatic shift from the age of gurukuls, the foundation of modern education in India was laid under the British Raj, which led to today’s formal, multiple-layered education structure divided between primary and secondary schools, to graduation, post-graduation, diploma, and distance education courses. While schools are governed by education boards such as the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), institutions providing higher education are governed by statutory bodies such as the Medical Council of India (MCI), the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and The Bar Council of India (BCI).

Over the course of time, the informal structure of education has developed its roots parallelly with the formal system. This includes one-on-one tuitions, coaching classes, vocational courses, and technology-based solutions to aid, supplement and replace the traditional modes of education. With the rise of start-ups and technology in India, entrepreneurs in this segment have come across several gaps and pioneered new-age education with modern business models.

In FY19, the size of India’s education sector stood at $101 Bn, and its online education market at $563 Mn. To put it into perspective, the country’s online education system comprised a mere 0.56% of the overall education sector. India was ranked 28th among 88 countries in the English Proficiency Index 2018, highlighting the country’s position considering a large English-speaking population allows easy delivery of educational products.

Reasons for growth
Edtech startups are gaining popularity as coaching for competitive examinations is becoming more affordable. Considering that more than 15 Mn students in India prepare for competitive exams, there is a vast market for edtech startups. Students are today facing rising competition for exploring opportunities in the fields of engineering and medicine (at the K-12 stage), securing government- and public-sector jobs such as Short-Service Commission (SSC) and Bank Probationary Officer (PO) respectively, and cracking Common Admission Test (CAT) to take up management studies.

Edtech start-ups today run on lower costs and bandwidth and are more technology-driven compared to traditional brick-and-mortar coaching centers. For these very factors, these start-ups are popular in Tier II and Tier III cities, despite a lack of access to more skilled teachers as in their Tier I peers.

Many brick-and-mortar coaching institutes too are offering app- and web-based solutions in addition to core services to increase their online footprint. The presence of tech companies such as Telegram and Amazon India (Exam Central Book Store) in this area makes the opportunity in the segment even more appealing for edtech start-ups.

Online Education Spearheading the Edtech Revolution In India By 2021 the online education market in India is estimated to be worth $2 Bn.

Capital Inflow Reached Historical Peak In 2019 Without outliers, the total funding amount surged 2x in 2019 ($283 Mn) compared to $140 Mn in 2018

Key Trends
·     $433 Mn total funding poured into ed-tech startups in 2019 was 36% lower compared to $681 Mn in 2018.

·     Both the number of funding deals and count of unique startups funded plunged by 15% and 4% respectively in 2019 compared to the previous year.

·      The average ticket size of the funding amount in 2019 was $11 Mn compared to $17 Mn in 2018.

·      BYJU’s was the top-funded ed-tech startup in India for 5 years straight (2015-2019) 79% was the contribution of BYJU’s in the total capital inflow of ed-tech startups for the year 2018.


Increase in number of Ed techs
The $10 Bn Edtech Opportunity by 2025 – Low cost and ease will be driving factors for mass adoption of online education in India.
Government initiatives driving the Indian EdTech industry
The Indian EdTech industry is expected to be more policy-friendly in the upcoming years due to rising government interest. The National Education Policy 2020 emphasized the importance of leveraging technology in education solutions and supported the creation of learning content in regional languages, calling it a high priority.

Increase in Internet Penetration
According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2020, smartphone ownership among government school student families increased from 30% in 2018 to 56% in 2020, whereas smartphone ownership among private school student families rose from 50% to 74%.

Due to the global pandemic, schools and universities across countries have switched to digital or online models to allow students to continue their learning. This has potentially disrupted the well-established models in school (K-12) education and university formats permanently.

The popularity of tech-enabled learning solutions in the Indian education system is only going to accelerate further as educational institutions, teachers, parents and governments become increasingly willing to adopt the technology. The sector is likely to witness heightened activity in innovation, new ventures, investments, and mergers & acquisitions (M&As) in the future.

The only listed player in Edtechs is NIIT. Established in 1981, NIIT, a leading global talent development corporation that is engaged in building skilled human capital and enhancing workforce talent worldwide. With a presence in over 30 countries, the company offers training and development solutions to enterprises and individuals through CLG and SNC businesses.

Sources: IBEF.org
Inc42
NIIT



Twitter Handle: @shuchi_nahar

Disclaimer: The information provided on Shuchi Nahar’s Weekend Blog is for educational purposes only. I am not SEBI Registered please ask your investment advisor before taking any actions. The articles may contain external links, references, and a compilation of various publicly available articles. Hence all the authors are given due credit for the same. All copyrights and trademarks of images belong to their respective owners and are used for Fair Educational purposes only.

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