The Indian Coaching Industry

Gone are the days when parents were ashamed in letting their children to tutors. Nowadays it has become a norm, a necessity, a MUST. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and even small places in Rajasthan and Bihar are not spared from the hold of this unfamiliar word – Coaching!

Growth of the Industry

A recent study conducted by the ASSOCHAM reveals that 70% of the parents from the uppermost to the bottom stratum of the social hierarchy are in the favor of spending or donating a hefty sum to these coaching institutes in the name of education. They believe that coaching classes that help their kids in the preparation of competitive exams and also is the only gateway for securing admission in prestigious institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM). Sounds like a quick fix, isn’t it?

With such a customer support, trust and willingness to spend among the parents, coaching institutes seem to be a recession-proof industry. IIT-JEE (IIT-Joint Entrance Examination) has only 5,500 seats but every year more than 300,000 students appear for the examination. AIEEE (All India Engineering Entrance Examination) just have 9,000 seats but it is no surprise that more than 525,000 eyes are glued on them. More than 170,000 appear for the All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) for a mere 1,600 seats such is the sad ratio of the total number of students appearing to the total number of seats available. However, almost everyone is attending the coaching classes to be the winner.

Did I mention that an expected 7,000, 12th Std candidates compete only for 80 seats in the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore from nine centers across the nation? And with the MBA craze, every December a whopping 155,00 graduates writes Common Admission Test (CAT) for mere 1,300 seats in the 6 IIM’s and a handful of other premier business schools. Needless to say, every year lakhs of students are willing to live a laborious life and cut down their expense only to pay for their coaching class fees to get through in the top institutes like All India Institue of Medical Science (AIIMS),

Birla Institute of Technology Sciences (BITS), Christian Medical College( CMC), National Institute of Technology (NIT) and many others.

“The education scenario has changed and you just cannot have the same mindset you used to have seven or eight years back. Those who thought organized classroom tutoring is a choice in a postal tutoring era missed out on market share.Now, those who are thinking classroom is the only mode will miss out too. You have to think of the digital mode too.” said Satya Narayanan R, Chairman, CL Educate.