India is home to one of the largest population of children, which comprises of a population of almost 15 crore children, that fall in the age group of 0-6 years and need care & early education.
Due to the rising competition for employment opportunities, shrinking space, it has become very common for the parents to work doubly hard to provide their children with a good future, which is why double income households have seen growth in the past couple of years.
Reasons for the Growth of Pre-schools & Daycare Franchises
As S.K.Rathore has rightly put in his words, “Today, the parents have become very busy with their work especially in metro cities, which is why they want the preschools and daycares to take care of the children. This is one of the reasons pre-schools and daycare franchises have grown and spread rapidly in metro cities.
Following the metro cities’ footprint, the tier-I and II parents also want their children to be prepared enough for future competitions, and that’s why they also want their children should get the education and care from their early years of learning. This is also another reason why preschool and daycare franchises have entered the tier-I & II regions and growing successfully.”
Potential of the Pre-school Franchises
The pre-school education industry itself in India is currently valued at more than 15,000 Crores, growing at a high CAGR of 23%.
According to reports, the preschool industry currently runs on three models. The unorganized sector, which is made up of local homegrown pre-schools constitutes around 70-80% of the market. Organized preschools, that operates on a franchisee model and is relatively smaller in number. The third model is the school feeder model with some regular K-12 school starting their own preschools to tap the early toddler market as well.
Rathore adds, “Lacs and lacs of play schools and pre-school franchisees are required to educate our younger generation. At the same time, the higher education system is required. So, there is a lot of potentials at least for the next 50 years. We have to work very hard and aggressively to fulfill the demands of the future.”
Opportunities in Small Towns & Cities
According to reports, the Indian preschool market is currently highly underpenetrated with only 17% of the children in the age group of 1.5-4 years attending preschool. The percentage is even lower in the smaller towns where less than 10% of children attend preschool.
Due to competition within the sector especially in metro cities, the preschool franchise brands are targeting the smaller cities and towns to penetrate their brand. Also, the growing awareness about pre-schools where the emotional, physical and intellectual of children are being taken care of at the early age has drawn more and number of potential women franchisees to run the preschool franchises.
There is significant growth seen in the small towns and cities as well as the popularity of preschool education growing in the past couple of years and will increase in the future as well.
