The online education industry in India is estimated to witness a growth of eight times (8x) and reach $1.96 billion by 2021, according to a study conducted by technology major Google and KPMG.
Traditional education systems (such as classrooms, tuitions) are slowly losing their importance as both students and educators embrace what edtech startups offer – convenience, personalisation, and agility. Then, we have newer concepts such as MOOCs (massively open online courses) gaining popularity amongst students and working professionals, alike. To this end, edtech startups too are making their presence felt in the $100 Bn Indian education sector, according to IBEF.
The report said over the last two years, there had been a 2x growth in online searches for education and a 3x growth in searches from a mobile device. Also, 44% of education searches were now coming from beyond the top 6 metros and there had been a 4x growth in education content consumption on YouTube in the last one year.
The current user base for online education industry in India largely consists of school students and working professionals. Some startups are providing standardised offerings in the form of test preparation content and K-12 learning courses. Then there are startups that are offering skill-based education, and finally, the ones that bring on innovative and new models on deck.
With imminent layoffs and job scarcity, working professionals too have taken to upskilling, reskilling at any and all stages of their careers in order to stay ahead of the automation curve. There can be no doubt about it: online education by edtech startups is here to stay.The report, titled ‘Online Education in India: 2021, was based on market research conducted by KPMG and combined with insights from Google search.
The research covered more than 3,600 respondents from across 27 geographies, including metro and non-metros to understand the growth of consumer paid online education market in India by 2021. The respondents were in the age group of 16-45 years.
At a time when the IT services industry was talking about re-skilling, the study said re-skilling and online certification was the largest category in the online education space. In 2016, it was valued at $93 million and expected to grow at a CAGR of 38% to reach 463 million by 2021.
Test preparation, which is a small segment as of now, would likely to grow at CAGR of 64% to become a $515 million category in 2021.