Booming Education Industry of India providing huge business opportunities

In India, education is the key to the task of nation-building. It is also a well-accepted fact that providing the right knowledge and skills to the youth can ensure the overall national progress and economic growth. The Indian education system recognises the role of education in instilling the values of secularism, egalitarianism, respect for democratic traditions and civil liberties and quest for justice.

The ongoing demand to strengthen the Indian education sector has opened up many avenues for people of India as well as non-residents of India (NRI) to invest in education sector.

Market Size

The education sector in India is evolving, led by the emergence of new niche sectors like vocational training, finishing schools, child-skill enhancement and e-learning.

According to a report 'Education in India: Securing the demographic dividend,' published by Grant Thorton, the primary and secondary education, or K-12 sector is expected to reach US$ 50 billion in 2015 from US$ 24.5 billion in 2008, growing at an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14 per cent.

Government Initiatives to boost Investments

The education sector in India is also considered as one of the major areas for investments as the entire education system is going through a process of overhaul, according to a report ‘Emerging Opportunities for Private and Foreign Participants in Higher Education’ by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Ever since, the Government of India has allowed foreign direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 per cent through the automatic route, many people find it convenient and profitable to invest in education sector.

Some of the initiatives taken by the Government for the infrastructural development of the sector and to increase the business opportunity in education are:

• For the year 2012-13, Rs 25,555 crore (US$ 4.63 billion) have been allotted for RTE-SSA (Right to Education - Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) which represents an increase of 21.7 per cent over the previous year allotment in 2011-12
• 6,000 schools have been proposed to be set up at block level as model schools in the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17)
• Rs 3,124 crore (US$ 566.69 million) have been provided for the RMSA (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan), which is an increase of 29 per cent over 2011-12
• India and Republic of Korea have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of education
• Prime Minister's fellowship scheme for doctoral research has been launched in New Delhi by Mr S Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister for Science and Technology, according to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
• The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) plans to set up ten community colleges in collaboration with the Government of Canada in 2012. The Government of India has decided to set up hundred community colleges this year
• The Government of India plans to set up an Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology at Ranchi with an investment of Rs 287.50 crore (US$ 52.15 million). The Institute will be a deemed university and will have different schools to import knowledge in genomics, bioinformatics, genetic engineering, nano biotechnology, diagnostics and prophylactics and basic and social sciences and commercialization