Training students, earning profits

With an endeavour to deliver excellent results in banking and other competitive exams, IBT Institute is looking forward to expand its network. In a conversation, Pradeep Singh, Managing Director, IBT Institute explains how franchising has opened gateways for growth.

Elaborate about the journey of IBT Institute.

We started the Institute of Banking Training (IBT Institute) in 2009 from Jalandhar (Punjab). Our venture began with three students who aspired to prepare for SBI Exam. Later on owing to a good selection rate of students in competitive exams, we opened three more branches in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Sangrur. Presently we have 31 branches across India in Punjab, Himachal, Maharashtra, UP, Odisha, Kerela, Uttrakhand, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Haryana. We have trained more than 12,000 students till now and seen more than 7,000 selections.

What all courses are offered by you?

We provide coaching for various national level exams, namely, Bank PO/IBPS & SBI, Bank Clerk/IBPS & SBI, SSC-CGL & Higher Secondary, Railways and CAT/CMAT/XAT/CSAT.

When did you start franchising? What made you choose franchise route?

We started franchising in 2010. We opted for franchising to grow and expand our network. We wish to achieve pan-India presence.

What is the USP of your institute?

The USP of IBT is the low-cost model for franchisees where they are not required to pay any royalty. Its low initial license fee greatly helps new entrepreneurs in business set up. We provide life time membership to our students.

What are your expansion plans?

We are aiming for pan-India expansion. We wish to expand in all tier I and tier II cities.

What kind of training and support do you provide to your franchisees?

IBT organises induction programmes for new business partners and their staff. We provide faculty and counselor training and provide certification. We host sales and marketing training periodically and conduct ongoing training for new products. We conduct online examinations for students. We have a special ERP system for maintaining student records and managing centre operations. We do marketing and advertising initiatives at the national level. Continuous support in the form of complete course material with necessary modifications is ensured.

How many centres do you presently have? How many among them are franchisee run?

We have more than 31 centres spread across India. Among them more than 28 are franchisee run.

With so many coaching centers coming up, is this sector becoming competitive?

Increase in the number of coaching centres means there is a huge prospect in the market for this segment. In this increasing competition, only those centres can sustain that provide quality services to their students.

Where do you see your business five years down the line?

IBT believes in delivering the best service to the students. IBT institute will have pan-India presence with 300 plus centres and shall see diversification from coaching of competitive exams in the government sector to a full fledged degree college providing quality education in different streams in next five years.

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