I will be exploring the E-Learning Industry from top-down, identify Leading players and possible investment opportunities.

Transcription

1 Investment Opportunities in India: E-Learning -Kaushank Khandwala India is a vibrant economy brimming with optimism that wakes up every morning a little younger in age, but infinitely more ambitious in spirit. Today, over 600 million young people, or more than 1 in 2 Indians, are below the age of 25, making India the largest community of youth anywhere in the world. I believe in the coming years it will be an entrepreneurs India. The current generation will need to rise above the risk-averse tendencies of previous generations. Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai are top tier1 cities full of Technopreneurship activity. Many Tier II and Tier III cities are also showing a lot of promise. It is against this backdrop that I am exploring a promising sector for investment opportunities: ELearning. India s E-Learning Industry is on a high growth trajectory for the last 5 years. ValueNotes E-Learning India research indicates that as of Dec 2010, current Size of E-Learning Industry is 890 mn: 640 mn E-Learning Offshoring and 250mn Domestic E-Learning Industry. Growth has been tenfold from I will be exploring the E-Learning Industry from top-down, identify Leading players and possible investment opportunities. ELearning Industry Analysis Fig1: ELearning Market in India Western countries started to focus and invest more in E Learning in late 90s. Indian market was slow in adapting to E learning in 2000s. ELearning Market in India as of 2010 is estimated at USD 1.2 bn, 40% Y-Y since 2005.

2 The market can be divided into two main segments: I. Outsourcing: Comprising 60% of the ELearning market at USD 720 mn (2010) II. Online Education: Comprising 40% of the ELearning market at USD 480 mn (2010) ELearning Outsourcing: ELearning started in India in early 2000 as Western countries started outsourcing. ELearning development and content management projects to Indian companies. In 2002, NASSCOM estimated the expected four year annual growth rate of Indian E learning market as 20-25%.Leading ELearning companies also set up their offshore development centers in India. NIIT and TATA Interactive Systems were pioneers in the ELearning Outsourcing industry. Steady growth in E learning market attracted IT companies, pure players, KPOs, BPOs, and publishing houses. ValueNotes survey in 2008 indicates the growth of major players as 30-50% annually. ElementK, McGraw-Hill, Lionbridge, Skillsoft, IBM, and Oracle are some of the global companies that set up E learning centers in India Reasons why India is a favored destination for ELearning Outsourcing: Large pool of English speakers. India ranks third in the world - after US and Philippines - among the non-native English speaking population. Vast pool of graduates in different sectors. Cost Advantage Low cost for quality labor. Potential to develop E learning for different verticals, including manufacturing industries, health care, IT, universities, K-12, management, legal, and so on. Flexibility and scalability in handling large international projects. Proven expertise and maturity in handling E learning projects over years.

3 Threats to ELearning Outsourcing Industry India is currently a favorite offshoring destination, but other countries are closely competing to share the market. China provides labor at low cost and the technology growth rate is also high. Countries such as Singapore and South Africa also have skilled labor force. Indian E learning companies focus primarily on the US market and with economic recession badly affecting US, Indian companies may face a setback. It s high time for Indian ELearning companies to focus on other countries as well. Also, domestic ELearning consumption in India is increasing and presents a huge opportunity. ELearning Online Education Market: As of ValueNotes 2010 research, domestic ELearning consumption is comparable to the ELearning Outsourcing Market. Online education is currently a hot market in India. Virtual universities are growing in the west and this increases the demand for Indian E learning service providers. E Learning providers also find an increasing demand in the domestic market for online education. Value Notes research estimates state that there will be a good future for education segment with governments across nations trying to invest heavily in public education.

4 Figure: ELearning Trends: Despite the growth of newer trends, the CBT learning is expected to grow to $750 million by 2012, according to CLSA Asia Pacific market report. Online Education can be divided into 3 key segments: I. Government Sector Government sector is the least focused sector primarily due to high barriers to entry. There are significant challenges in this sector: Lot of processes and procedures with rules that vary for each country Longer wait time to get a govt. project Indian govt. is slow in adapting to E learning II. E learning is yet to hit public schools in India Corporate Sector Corporate Sector is a highly targeted segment in Online Education Segment.

5 High demand since corporations focus on training as an ultimate tool to up skill employees. Focus on Corporate Sector started with Indian IT Companies who developed technical and managerial Learning modules for their employees. The scope has now moved beyond IT sector to Banking, Pharmaceuticals and Manufacturing segments. Learning Management Systems (LMS) are commonly used by corporations. Some newer trends, such as on-demand video, online virtual labs, and virtual classrooms are also catching up among corporate training. Indian service providers outsource E learning services to international clients and also cater domestic companies. NIIT along with Element K, Skillsoft (Books 24x7), IBM Learning, Tata Interactive Systems, Harbinger Knowledge Products, New Horizons, Lionbridge, and Aptech are some players who highly target this sector. Indian service providers create E learning on various applications, soft skills, services, and processes for almost all verticals. Some important services offered are: LMS hosting, online library of courses, E learning advisory services, virtual labs, specialized certification programs, business simulations, and game-based learning programs. III. Domestic Education Sector Domestic Education Sector includes K-12 to higher education, career guidance programs, certification courses & professional development courses. E learning courses cover a broad spectrum of courses on career guidance, IT certification programs & professional course entrance exam coaching. Online tutoring is yet another booming industry in online education sector

6 Domestic Education Sector is an attractive investment opportunity. There are 4 key areas in Domestic Education Sector Higher Education Market Indian universities have started to introduce online courses for degree/diploma and certification programs. Some popular institutes with online courses: IIT, IIM, IIFT, Symbiosis, Sikkim Manipal University. Foreign universities are creating tie-ups with Indian counterparts to provide online courses. Career Development Programs Online career development programs and technology certification courses have a vast audience. Gurukul Online Learning Solutions (GOLS) and NIIT are major players in this arena. GOLS offers nearly 120+ courses across 16 domains and NIIT has a wide-spread market in AP, Japan, USA, and Europe regions. Competitive Exam Preparation courses Experts state this as a potential online education market and the current market size of it in India is nearly $1.6 billion. With CAT exams having moved online, experts expect that online learning will have more growth. StudyPlaces.com is an online portal that focuses mainly on this sector.

7 K-12 Education In the domestic market, smaller companies focus on CBT development for K-12 students. Tutorvista has partnered with Edurite to setup various centers across India to offer technology-based E learning for school students. Online Tutoring Market: Online tutoring is a one-on-one online tuition service provided to students in any part of the world with the help of Internet chat/ Voice over IP and Virtual whiteboard. Large pool of English speakers and talented teachers, have put India in an advantageous position to cater students in international countries. Worldwide market for online tutoring is estimated to be $12 billion and India earns $15 million every year -- 10% of the market share. This industry is growing at the rate of 10-15% per annum. Indian service providers mostly target the US, since it forms more than half of the global market. Apart from the US, service providers have also started to focus on UK, Canada, China, West Asia, and Australia. Tutorvista is a major player in this market. Educomp and Transtutors have created a tie-up with US e-tutoring firms for subcontracting. BSNL has also entered this space, and with Smartlinx has introduced Live Tutor service for the domestic market. Major Players in ELearning Space: Based on my analysis, I have compiled a list of Established and promising ELearning companies in India as depicted below

8

9

10 Conclusion For ELearning Sector, identifiable opportunities exist in Online Education Space. There are 4 key segments in Online Education Sector: i. Higher Education ii)k12-education ii. Career Development Programs iv)competitive Exam Preparation TutorVista and Liqvid are promising investment opportunities in ELearning companies. The author is a former Associate in a leading investment bank. He is passionate about using technology in Ecommerce, ELearning, Cloud Computing, Healthcare and Education. Feel free to contact him on Kaushank@yahoo.com.