What’s Attracting International Education Franchises To India?
In this millennium, the world is witnessing a borderless society. With the influx of technology and internet, free flow of information is opening up new vistas in the field of conventional and professional education. Over the last decade, the Education sector in India has grown leaps and bounds. The education sector in India is estimated at US$ 91.7 billion in FY18 and is expected to reach US$ 101.1 billion in FY19.
The Indian Education space is by far the largest capitalized space in the country and also holds an important place in the global education industry. Many international education franchises are entering India after realizing the potential it holds.
Troy Franklin, Chief Operating Officer, World Franchise Associates, said, “What’s happening in India with regards to socio-economic and cultural drives what very much trends in franchising, aspects of franchising grow and develop. India has a very large, very young population, and education sector, extracurricular education services is a big opportunity.”
The total amount of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) inflow into the education sector in India stood at US$ 1.75 billion from April 2000 to June 2018. Below are the reasons for what’s attracting foreign education franchisees to India.
Language
India has a huge English speaking population, after Hindi, it is the most commonly spoken language in and probably the most read and written language in the country. With English being the second language of most of the population, India was ranked 27 out of 80 countries in English proficiency index. This makes delivery of educational products easy for international education franchisees. Educational Institutes are giving priority to the Indian market as they won’t have to face the language barrier for attaining success.
Samer Alotri, General Manager, Smart Reader Kids, said, “To be frank, our expansion was planned for China because of its population on can have a lot many enrolments in a quick second. But when we reached, there was a problem in language which is not seen here in India. Therefore, we switched and gave priority to this market. People are accustomed to the English language. Plus the geographical position of India leads to access to Bangladesh and other countries.”
Huge Untapped Market
India has the world’s largest population of about 500 million in the age bracket of 5-24 years, with a large demand-supply gap in this sector. India has over 250 million school going students, more than any other country, and had 36.64 million students enrolled in higher education.
The educational market is highly untapped and thus provides a great opportunity for international educational institutes in the industry.
Shimon Junior, Marketing and Sales, First Kick Academy, said, “We are based in Singapore, but it is really small, leaving space for limited openings. India, on the other hand, is a huge market for us to expand. There are a lot of opportunities, a lot of kids, and that’s what my business is all about. So yeah hopefully we can grow and expand more.”
With a declining share of their local students, the international education franchises have understood that going global is critical for survival. This is encouraging several institutes to look at emerging economies like India for a more stable and self-sustaining source of income.
FDI Rules
The education sector in India remains to be a strategic priority of the government. The Government of India has allowed 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the education sector through the automatic route. The government of India has also taken initiatives like National accreditation regulatory authority bill for higher education and foreign educational institutes bills. This has paved the way for foreign educational franchisees to establish their business in India.
