Title of the Project

The Rise of Edtech Industry: Covid-19 Effect

Submitted by:

Name of the candidate: Vedangi Dugar

Room No. : 12
Roll No. : 1133

Supervised by:

Name of the Supervisor: Professor Saptarshi Ray

Month and Year of submission: April, 2021

1|Page
 St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous)

Department of Commerce

PROJECT COMPLETION AND PLAGIARISM VERIFICATION CERTIFICATE

Student Name: Vedangi Dugar

Room No.: 12 Roll No.: 1133

Title of the dissertation: The Rise of EdTech Industry – Covid-19 Effect

The above dissertation was scanned using iThenticate for similarity detection and the
similarity index is as follows:

Similarity Index: 7%

The dissertation may be considered for submission.

Name of the Supervisor : Professor Saptarshi Ray

Signature :

Date: 22nd April, 2021

2|Page
 STUDENT'S DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Project Work with the title (in block letters) “THE RISE IN
EDTECH INDUSTRY- COVID 19 EFFECT” submitted by me for the partial fulfilment
of the degree of B.Com. (Honours) at St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata is my
original work and has not been submitted earlier to any other Institution for the fulfilment of
the requirement for any course of study.

I also declare that no chapter of this manuscript in whole or in part has been incorporated in
this report from any earlier work done by others or by me. However, extracts of any
literature which has been used for this report has been duly acknowledged providing details
of such literature in the references.

Signature:

Name: Vedangi Dugar

Address: DL-95, Basanti Colony, Rourkela-769012, Odisha.

Room No. : 12
Roll No. : 1133

Place: Kolkata
Date: 22nd April, 2021

3|Page
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my deep regards and profound gratitude to my guide, Professor
Saptarshi Ray for his constant support, encouragement, exemplary guidance and guidance
throughout the course of this project. His blessings, lessons and knowledge provided shal be
beneficial for me even in the future years to come. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to complete
this project successfully, hadn’t Sir been there for guiding and correcting me throughout.

I am thankful to all my colleagues for the valuable information for the valuable information I could
gain from them regarding their respective topics. I am grateful for their cooperation during the
period of making my assignment.

Lastly, I thank Almighty, my parents, brother and friends for their constant encouragement. All of
them have helped me in successful completion of this project.

4|Page
 ABSTRACT

According to statistics, inspite of massive disruption caused by Covid-19 to various sectors,

EdTech managed to survive and accelerate its growth because of the sectoral lockdown imposed.
As WHO announced it as a pandemic outbreak, the whole education system went upside down
and compelled educators as well as students to shift to online based learning immediately. Studies
have revealed that a commendable 26% increase in user visits have been seen in the overall sector.
Moreover, some firms have even recorded a 100% month-on-month growth in paid users and
growth in traffic by 50% during the global pandemic.

The present study aims at measuring and analyzing the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian EdTech
industry specially with reference to K-12 and higher education in terms of traffic share, enrolment,
job creation, revenue generation, affordability, accessibility, funding, introduction of new product
lines and other variables, with the hypothesis that as the pandemic has disrupted traditional
methods of education, the Online learning industry would see an unprecedented growth. The tech
solutions kept flowing knowledge to over 300 million students in the country. It also provides an
elaborate discussion about the challenges the industry is facing and its future scope in India.

By employing an extensive literature review and collecting and analyzing information from
primary data as well as secondary data ( published interviews of EdTech founders, articles and
surveys conducted ), this study concludes that the Covid 19 global pandemic has largely
contributed in the growth of EdTech sector in India, thereby massively changing the education
landscape in the country.

Keywords: EdTech Industry, online learning, Covid-19, user engagement.

5|Page
 CONTENTS

SL. NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

Acknowledgement 4

Abstract 5

1. Introduction 7

1.1. Literature review 8

1.2. Objectives of the study 9

1.3. Research Methodology 9

1.4. Time Frame 10

1.5. Limitations of the Study 10

2. The Scenario of EdTech in India 10

3. Findings and Analysis: Pre vs Post Covid Scenario of Edtech 12

3.1. Market size of the Industry 12

3.2. Funding Surge 12

3.3 Rise in Traffic 13

3.4. Watch time Statistics 15

3.5. Subscriber Base 16

3.6. Job Creation 16

4. Innovative Trends & Features in EdTech space 17

5. Role of Government 19

6. Challenges faced by the EdTech Industry 21

7. Recommendations and Conclusion 25

8. References 26

6|Page
 1. INTRODUCTION

“EdTech” or “Educational Technology” is a fast growing industry since the past 10-15 years in
India. We can witness its growth in three phases:

• In the first phase, online learning just supplemented offline learning with engaging
multimedia content.
• In the second phase, it started offering a complete learning experience by introducing several
features.
• In the third phase, that is the current phase, technology is being used to overtake traditional
learning methods by interactive classes, online assessments, structured e-learning and scaling
education in unimaginable ways. Now, quality education is being accessed by every corner of
the country, from metro cities to Tier-II, Tier-III locations and rural areas.

On top of it, Covid-19 gave the industry a huge boost. EdTech has been one of the biggest
beneficiaries of the pandemic and has grown at a breakneck speed in 2020. According to a
Google-KPMG survey, the Ed-tech market is expected to manifold to around 10 million users
by 2021. Still this represents only a small picture of the gigantic Indian market that has more
than 250 million students currently studying in schools. This data helps us decipher the booster
shot covid has given to the user base of online education industry as students rushed not just for
formal education but also for the whole arena of knowledge that this sector upholds. EdTech
adoption upsurged like never before and investors are also forseeing a huge market opportunity
in this sector. In fact, it is said that what demonetization was to fintech in 2016, pandemic has
been to EdTech in 2020.

The advantages of digital learning are many. It has no physical boundaries, is cost effective,
customizes the pace of learning as required, uses Artificial Intelligence and other right tools to
enhance user experience and overall delivers quality education. However, India still has a long
way to go because of urban-rural divide and standard of living disparities.

This research is thus conducted to understand this digital revolution in education amidst the
pandemic and explore how the Covid-19 has actually impacted the EdTech industry in our
country.

7|Page
 1.1. LITERATURE REVIEW

1) A study by KPMG in India and Google,2017

Primary and secondary education has the largest user base, while reskilling, certification and
test preparation courses are likely to grow the fastest. The intrinsic characteristics of e-learning
are attracting large number of students of it. Top reasons for choosing online courses are
reduced travel time, convenience and better concentration in homely environment. They found
out that in their study that marketing is not the key tool for awareness, but peer influence is,
followed by Internet searches.

2) Omidyar Network India-Redseer Report 2019-20

While India is progressing tremendously in improving literacy rates, providing quality

education, accessibility to uninterrupted online education remain significant hurdles in
unlocking the youth’s potential. EdTech offerings are poised to disrupt the status quo and
revolutionize the education landscape completely.

3) Education Technology in India: by Kim Campbell, Hila Mehr and Ben Mayer

India is a solid breeding ground for innovation. The future of educational technology in India
seems bright. Large number of entrepreneurs, businesses and immersive ideas are coming
together with full force to turn EdTech into a reality, reality that no one can escape. There are
an abundance of market opportunities available and India is seizing them quite well.

4) Maya Escueta et al, 2017

Earlier researches in the filed of EdTech found that social networking sites in college education
has positively contributed to student engagement. Development in areas like new gadgets,
mobile phones and intenet have triggered a renaissance in Education Technology.

5) Tienken, 2017

It has been deciphered that the wise-use of technology, online socialisation and interactive
3D models to enrich student learning experiences are still in the basic stage or has not been
widely explored.

8|Page
 1.2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the proposed study is to analyse the growth of EdTech industry during
Covid-19 pandemic in India. The objectives are:

• To understand the present scenario of EdTech industry in India.

• To examine the pre covid and post covid situation of EdTech industry in India.
• To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on EdTech Industry in terms of user
enrolment, traffic generation, introduction of new products and features, revenue generation,
job creation and watch time.
• To understand the current innovative trends prevailing in the industry.
• To study the role of government in promoting online education in India.
• To study the challenges faced by the industry and possible solutions for it.

1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is an approach to systematically solve research issues. It is essential for us

to know not just the research strategies but also the procedure. It must be noted that the centrality
of research lies in its quality and not quantity. Researchers should realize how to apply specific
research procedures and should know which of these strategies or methods are important and
which are not. It is used to identify, select, process, and analyze information about a topic. In a
research paper, the methodology section allows the reader to critically evaluate a study’s overall
validity and reliability.

The present study comprises of both primary and secondary data. Primary data has been collected
by conducting a local survey on 110 people. While secondary data was collected from Annual
reports of leading firms in the industry, relevant published sources in the industry, recent
interviews and podcasts of Founders of EdTech startups and entrepreneurs. Several reliable
articles and websites have been referred like YourStory, Inc42, Datalabs, The Economic Times
etc. I have reviewed several websites of EdTech companies to derive insights for my research
work. In addition, I have also analysed and used some findings of surveys conducted by Linkedin,
Similarwebsurvey, NASSCOM to derive conclusions.

9|Page
 1.4 TIME FRAME

The study has been conducted to analyse the impact of Covid-19 on Edtech industry, therefore
time frame is March’2020 i.e., the advent of the pandemic till the present date as the pandemic is
not yet over.

1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

• There was a time constraint , due to which I could not gather information from all the sources and
some vital information and data might have been missed.

• The data might include biasness as most of the data has been collected from secondary research.

• 90% of the respondents in primary data were of the age group 18-24. Hence perspective and
preferences of other age groups couldn’t be gathered and presented.

2. THE SCENARIO OF EDTECH IN INDIA

India is the second largest market for EdTech Industry after the US, according to The India Brand
Equity Foundation (IBEF). This fast growing market is all ready to touch $3.5 B by the year
2022, according to Omidyar Network India Report. The pandemic has undoubtedly disrupted
many markets, but EdTech witnessed an opposite trend.

Let’s have a look at the journey of this industry from the beginning. The journey of EdTech
started in India in the year 2004, when satellite based education and smart classrooms like
Educomp were introduced. Eventually in 2008, E-learning players like Khan Academy,
Extramarks ventured into digital learning. Raising a fund of over $125 million, 1000 startups
emerged in India in the year 2015. This was a game changing year indeed. Increasing awareness
about online education and disposable income fueled the rise of EdTech market and thus attracted
large investors.

In 2018, BYJU’s, an Indian EdTech firm turned Unicorn, followed by Unacademy which joined
the list in September, 2020. According to data from Sensor Tower, homegrown EdTech
unicorn BYJU's was the only Indian entry in the list of April's top 10 downloaded education apps
on Google Play Store.

10 | P a g e
 After Google Classrooms and Youtube Kids, BYJU’s bagged the 10th spot. Infact, Founder and
CEO Byju Raveendran shared on YourStory that April, 2020 was its best month since inception
and they nearly doubled their revenue in the next three to four months.

The landscape of EdTech in India :

• According to Venture Intelligence, EdTech firms raised $2.1 billion in 2020, the highest
among all sectors against $426 million in 2019.

• 2 Unicorns, BYJU’s and Unacademy are on a spree of acquiring smaller rival online learning
startups in 2021.

• Key Cities of EdTech startups : Bangalore (>70% funding), Mumbai, Delhi NCR,
Hyderabad, Chennai.

• The industry is highly focused towards K-12, college and test preparation related content in
terms of funding (>70%).

• The National Education Policy 2020 is expected to boost the quality and scope of
education in the country, providing room for growth of the EdTech sector.

Bangalore and Delhi have been ranked 7th and 4th respectively in the 2018 Global EdTech Index
which analyses worldwide cities based on parameters like funding, sector support, no. of
companies and test bed potential. This indicates the conducive environment provided for massive
growth of EdTech in the country.

Source: NASSCOM

11 | P a g e
 3. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
PRE COVID VS POST COVID SCENARIO OF EDTECH

3.1. MARKET SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY

Source: NASSCOM

Online learning services for Classes 1 to 12 are estimated to increase 6.3X times by 2022,
creating a $1.7 billion market, while the post-K12 market is estimated to increase 3.7X times,
touching $1.8 billion, making a total of $3.5 billion worth market. With the increase in
adaptability of EdTech and a changed perspective towards education post covid, bigger numbers
may be expected.

3.2. FUNDING SURGE

12 | P a g e
Nearly 5X growth in funding can be seen in H12020 in comparison to H12019. $1.6 bn funding
was generated in Jan- Sept 2020 alone with K12 segments and online test preparation leading
the way. This figure is already 2 times the total funding in 2019. BYJU’s has proved to be the
behemoth of this sector by attracting 43% of the funding raised by the whole sector. Unacademy
and Vedantu followed BYJU’s by raising 7.8% and 5% respectively.

Other new start-ups also raised funding during this period like iNurture, Masai, Pedagogy,
CampK12 and Lido. Number of funding deals skyrocketed by over 2.5X, from ~20 in H1 2019
to 40+ in H12020, as investors forsee long term growth aspects in this space.
As a result EdTech became the second most funded sector after fintech in H1 2020.

The perspective and priorities of investors have considerably changed now. While some are
betting on the established firms, others are capitalising on the emerging ones in the arena. To
name a few, investors like Tiger Global, Nexus ventures & General Atlantic are of the first
category of investors while Infoedge, Picus Capital, Inflection Point Ventures etc. are of the later
ones. Established players are focusing on expansion and penetration and the new firms are
focusing on generating more funds to grow. Either way, the industry is booming like never
before.

3.3 RISE IN TRAFFIC

13 | P a g e
EdTech firms like Udemy, Coursera , Byju’s, and Doubtnut saw a terrific spike in traffic share.
Their traffic increased consistently for months during lockdown. Brainly, a global online learning
platform for students recorded the maximum website traffic in April with approximately 25.05
million visits which constitutes 4.19 per cent of the Indian ed-tech traffic. It also registered an
increase in its Indian user base to 25 million.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) like Udemy, Coursera and Toppr also witnessed huge
traffic in the initial days of lockdown. (Inc24 media, 2020) Some of the trendy course topics were
digital marketing and data science.

usage of online learning apps

pre covid. According to the primary data
collected, where 90% of the
respondents were between the
18% age group of 18-24, it has been
29% No found that before covid knocked
Yes, a few times. us, just 29% of people used e-
Yes, frequently. learning apps frequently. 53%
53% people used such apps just a few
times and 18% had never used it.

usage of online learning apps

post covid. With the commencement of
pandemic, a straight 30%
increase can be seen in frequent
usage of learning apps. People
10% definitely started learning online
No
more during this period and just a
31% Yes, a few times.
59% small percentage of people (10%)
Yes, frequently. still remain oblivion to it.

14 | P a g e
 3.4 WATCH TIME STATISTICS

Watch Time is the total amount of time spent watching online content. In April 2020, Unacademy
recorded highest growth, breaking all previous records in terms of video views, watch time,
etc.(YourStory, 2020). Vedantu for the first time recorded a watch time of one billion minutes on
its platform.

As per a report by BARC India and Nielsen, there has been a 30% increase in the time spent on
educational apps on smartphones since the lockdown. For instance, time spent on the Byju’s app
increased from 60 minutes (pre-lockdown) to 91 minutes during the lockdown.
With adequate amount of time to study, upskill and learn, people invested good amount of time
searching meaningful educational content and exploring such platforms properly.
As per a recent Linkedin survey, almost 63% of professionals have increased their time spent on
online learning to reskill themselves with a view to stay updated in the ever-competing job market.
Most of the working population began focussing on reskilling as a necessity for career progression.
Overall 50% rise has been observed in the engagement level of people during the lockdown.

.
TIME SPENT ON ONLINE
EDUCATION?
8%

2 hrs - 6 hrs

53% Less than 2 hrs

39%
More than 6 hrs

The above chart indicates average time spent online by people between the age of 18-24. Nearly
half of the respondents devoted 2hrs to 6 hrs of their time to learn online.

15 | P a g e
 3.5. SUBSCRIBER BASE

• Coursera India added 363,000 new learners in March 2020 i.e., 173% jump in registrations.
• Byju’s added 7.5 million new users during the lockdown.
• Toppr recorded 100% month-on-month increase in its live classes.
• UpGrad recorded a 50% surge in learners in the first week of March (Financial Express,
2020).
• Vedantu’s subscriber base shot up from 50,000 to 6,50,000 as new learners signed up for
classes I-XII and competitive examinations such as JEE, NEET.
• Aakash Digital, an online platform for medical and engineering exams witnessed a four times
surge in daily active users in April 2020.
• Udemy recorded a 200% growth in registrations in April and May alone.
• Imarticus Learning recorded an uptick of 52% in the number of users taking up online courses
(Economic Times, 2020).

3.6. JOB CREATION

Unlike most companies where there has been a halt in recruitment activities owing to the
pandemic, EdTech platforms began hiring in large number of people. Platforms such as UpGrad,
Vedantu, Simplilearn, and Dronstudy got on board a minimum of 3,000 or more
workforce in 2020 . Toppr hired across senior leadership and entry level positions in large
numbers.

According to data collated by The Economic Times, Leading EdTech startups—Byju’s, UpGrad,
Udemy, Unacademy, Talentedge, Simplilearn, and Scaler—plan to nearly double their total
headcount in 2021 to keep their pace with the increase in user engagement rates. Together they
plan to add nearly 13,000 employees in 2021. Vedantu currently employs 6000 employees and
plans to expand to 8500 in the next three months, to dive its way into smaller cities and towns.
Creating business products by understanding learner’s needs is a key focus area for EdTech
firms. They went on a hiring spree of product managers to understand the need and create a
revolutionary online product. To boost their sales , they require a strong inside sales team in
order to generate leads and retain existing users. Firms hired technical architects who can design

16 | P a g e
 a scalable online platform, software engineers, marketing professionals . So it is quite evident
that the Pandemic has a positive impact on job creation in EdTech space.

4. INNOVATIVE TRENDS AND FEATURES IN EDTECH SPACE.

The EdTech startups are tapping technology with education, expanding the horizons of creative
features and adding more users daily. Some of the most innovative and current trends in the market
are:

4.1. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Technology has changed the education landscape, but with the advent of AI, it has transformed
the experience to an altogether new level. AI has helped in totally automating the experience,
making the content more engaging than ever. Teachers can now automate grading of fill in the
blanks and multiple choice questions. Also, AI tutors can be helpful when teachers are unable to
answer students’ queries and can also provide helpful feedback. Machine Learning and AI
together offer much enhanced and exciting learning experience for users, thereby attracting more
traffic. It is a powerful assistant for teaching.

4.2. BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Blockchain is emerging speedily and is expected to bring innovations in various industries

including EdTech in the coming years. The Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is extremely
useful for examination management security, maintaining a distributed database/information,
student credential verification and especially for data storage. Blockchain is used in Massive Open
Online courses to verify knowledge and skills.

4.3. VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY

The integration of VR and AR adds advanced audio-visual factors to the learning experience
which makes it more understandable and fun to watch. It’s components such as rich animation,
3D designs and sign languages helps in understanding better. VR provides a constructed reality
whereas AR provides an enhanced real image view. Some concepts may be not clear with a plain
image or hands-on lab experiment. VR solves the problem then. It creates visuals which helps
students experience real world problems in a low-risk environment. Use of advanced audio and
visuals makes things more easy than the conventional chalk and blackboard learning. It is widely

17 | P a g e
being used to elevate the experience for students, specially in medical training courses. For ex,
PlayShifu, founded in 2016, is a Bengaluru based startup which uses engaging and immersive AR
experiences to help children master STEM skills i.e., science, technology, engineering and math
from an early age.

4.4 GAMIFICATION

Gamification is a revolutionary idea and has emerged as a very successful learning technique of
learning. One of the main challenges in learning is to make the students concentrate and focus on
studies. Engaging them and making learning interesting is a Herculean task in itself. Nowadays
students as well as educators are very well adopting gamified approach of learning. It is a very
simple concept, where lessons are embedded into short games for quick learning and retention.

The different concepts in gamified learning like leaderboard position, earning badges, level
completion activities, daily progress graphs and many such things, attracts students, especially
young kids. Most of the kids get addicted to this, as in they get addicted to games and videos. This
addiction is quite useful perhaps, as knowledge comes in hand with fun games. It helps create a
positive environment as well. Parents too encourage these type of approaches where it is fun as
well as easy to make their kids learn effectively.

This concept is most popular in K-12 education sector. For ex, BYJU’s launched the Disney
BYJU’s Early Learn App in collaboration with Walt Disney for kids aged four to nine years to
make more playful learning content. The app features Disney stories and characters which hooks
children to the app.

4.5. MOBILE BASED LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In India, mobile phones( with internet connections) can be found with more number of people than
a desktop/laptop with a broadband connection. Hence arises the need for mobile learning systems.
In order to provide mobile based courses, content needs to be customized accordingly for a smaller
screen, slower internet and lower computing power. Investing in this technology will yield benefits
significantly as there’s a large population of students who prefer using a smartphone for courses,
not because this option is better but due to lack of proper equipped gadgets. Several Indian startups
have picked up this opportunity rightly.

18 | P a g e
4.6. ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Because of the ever growing popularity of social media among every age group, using such
platforms for learning processes is not a bad idea. This powerful tool can elevate learning for the
ones who spend too much time on social media handles. Many institutes have began
communicating via social media platforms to interact with their students. Teachers and students
can share learning material, notes, notices, resolve doubts and discuss regarding anything
needed. Commonly used apps like Facebook, Watsapp are already being used to circulate
important messages. This is the power social media beholds.

5. ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

With social inequity in online learning coming to the front because of the pandemic,
Government proposed certain measures to bridge the gap and make learning accessible by every
child in the country.

Some of the measures taken by Government of India are:

5.1. BHARAT NET scheme

It aims at improving the internet connectivity in rural areas. The CSC e-Governance Services India
Ltd (CSC-SPV) of MEITY has been assigned the task of providing Fibre to the Home (FTTH)
connectivity to the Government Institutions, including schools. This project is for providing
Internet connection to Government schools in respective Gram Panchayats.

5.2. SWAYAM programme

It aims to achieve the three principles of the Education policy: access, equity and quality. It is the
national online education platform which hosts around 1900 quality courses for classes IX to XII
as well as for Undergraduate and Post-Graduate courses, in all subjects ranging from law,
engineering, social sciences, humanities and management courses. All the courses are freely
accessible by any learner in the country. The courses are designed by the best of teachers and are
immersive and interactive. The lockdown period witnessed a hike in engagement rate by three
times on SWAYAM.

19 | P a g e
5.3. SWAYAM-Prabha

Since everyone doesn’t have internet access, SWAYAM-Prabha, Ministry of Education is

providing 34 educational DTH TV channels for Schools and Higher Educational Institutions on
24/7 basis. One needs a DD free Dish Set top box and antenna and can watch educational content
according to pre-decided schedule everyday.12 channels are exclusively marked for school
education.

Website: https://www.swayam.gov.in

5.4. PM eVIDYA

It is a comprehensive initiative which unifies all efforts related to digital/on-air/online education

to enable multi-mode access to education.

5.5. DIKSHA

It is the nation’s digital infrastructure for school education. It was much more strenghthened during
the pandemic to ensure accessibility. It is very much useful as it provides material relevant to the
prescribed school curriculum. Teachers, students and parents can largely benefit from this. It
showcases content in multiple Indian languages, hosting over 80,000 content items for Classes 1
to 12. Lockdown has helped in increasing the accessibility to around 250 million times during that
period. One nation, One digital platform.

Website: https://diksha.gov.in

5.6. BUDGET 2020

The announcement of National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR) “for administration,

documentation, tracking, reporting, automation and delivery of educational courses, training
programs, or learning and development programs”, which could lead to a learning management
system was an important aspect for EdTech. LMS is driven by AI which supports delivery of
online learning and acts as a platform for both online courses and courses. The revolutionary
National Education Policy, 2020, unveiled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development

20 | P a g e
recognises the significance of technology and calls for digital infrastructure investment,
development of online platforms and training mentors.
Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) ranked in the top 100 NIRF or NAAC score of 3.26 are
now allowed to offer an online programme without any prior approval of UGC, whereas
institutions with NAAC score of 3.01 to 3.25 after taking the approval of NAAC can offer online
programme.

6. CHALLENGES FACED BY THE ED-TECH INDUSTRY

While Covid proved to be a blessing in disguise for the EdTech Industry, India still has a long way
to go. Globally, in the EdTech space, India’s market share is still just 2.10%. Some factors
impeding its growth are:

6.1. A complicated web of regulations governing EdTech

Education in India is governed by many laws such as the Right to Education Act and the University
Grants Commission Act. But There is no single body formed for governance of EdTech industry
in India and this poses challenge for educational institutions who wish to tie up with EdTech firms
, as there is no separate legislation for the same. While The Right to Education Act has allowed
States to form their State specific rules and guidelines for online education, if they wish to form
so, States have not yet began working on it at the frontline. Ministry of Human Resource
Department is in the process of formulating a separate set of regulations in order to govern online
learning at school level, as announced by it earlier. Nevertheless, Government has come up with
some revolutionary schemes discussed earlier, and for the time being those are helping the
benefeciaries. But uniform regulations need to be formed soon for proper governance of EdTech
industry in India.

6.2. The lack of uniform legislation

EdTech space is tangled with a web of regulators as there is no law to govern it. A comprehensive
law for e-learning is yet to be written.

6.3. Technological Infrastructure

It’s not just electricity but internet which needs to reach everywhere in the 21st century. In a
recent interview, Manan Khurma, Founder & CEO, Cuemath explained, “There are limitations in
terms of infrastructure which serve as the primary inhibitors. Availability of decent internet,

21 | P a g e
access to laptops or tech with optimal screen size, means to purchase devices for the family are
just a few of these issues”. Network latency in India is way too high as compared to US & China
. Patchy internet connectivity in rural parts, where a bulk of population lives is still a major issue.
Even in regions where students have electricity and gadgets to access the online classes, the
strength of data connections is too weak to run classes without any interruption. These are well
known insurmountable issues and infrastructure needs to be smoothened for decent access to
education. After all, online learning cannot be done offline. Students can’t afford to spend more
time in video buffering than actual studying. Startups should come up with features like provision
of offline content, voice and chat enabled apps, to overcome technological barriers to a certain
extent.

22 | P a g e
6.4. Optimising Monetisation

Another challenge is to retain the increasing user base in order to monetise. Users are indeed
welcoming the industry, but for how long do they stick to it, is the main concern. New segment of
users download educational apps, access the free lessons and videos and bid adieu when it comes
to pay for the same. Some firms struggle to engage and retain users for more than a month. They
often have to invest considerably in marketing, pitch customers and work hard in building long
term relations with them. Indians don’t spend much on education apps as much they would spend
on online shopping or gaming. Firms need to understand what the users are ready to pay for.
Hence most of them are offering free content for initial period and then subsequently offers a paid
subscription. According to the GMC Calibrator report, the sweet spot lies between 100-250 per
month. Also, exceptional level of customer experience needs to be delivered everytime. Systems
need to function smoothly and other technical issues are to be addressed quickly. Then will people
keep coming back to them for their products offered.

6.5. Resistance to change

While EdTech is being adopted well in India, there are still a chunk of people comfortable with
conventional methods of learning, with a piece of chalk in their hand. Teachers are trying to cope
up with the changing dynamics but some are still reluctant to change. Some consider these
technologies as a threat to their position and fear that they will be replaced soon. The only solution
to this is to accept the change. One has to adapt and accustom himself/herself with the new
techniques coming up and one would still be a player if he/she remains in the game, rather than
quitting it completely.

23 | P a g e
6.6. Difference in ideologies

Education is more about having healthy discussions, debates and learning in between. Startups
tend to focus more on results, content delivered, activities provided etc., which is a little different
from the conventional academic background.

Students still feel a lack of personal touch, despite many firms coming up with one-on-one mentor
facility. The comfort of studying without any gadget, any internet issues and personalised real
time basis guidance from teachers are some of the factors preventing them to shift online. This
difference in basic ideologies leads to a lack of exchange.

Most parents are sceptical about screen time and buying EdTech products online. Apps are just
seen as an additional tool to gain some extra knowledge, if required. Data analytics and
behavioural science can help in understanding the perception users and satisfying them
accordingly.

6.7. RecognisingThe Right Business And Revenue Model

This is an important but complicated task to do. Analysing and finding the correct business model
can be a time-consuming task and requires perseverance. Many startups are unable to figure this
out and hence decide to shut down early due to lack of revenue.

6.8. Other variable challenges

24 | P a g e
When conducted a local survey, it was found that the major problem of online learning respondants
felt was that it leads to eye-strain , headache and such other physical issues. Another big problem
is the lack of interpersonal communication. Experts have recognised the communication barrier
and startups are coming up with solutions for the same. But eye strain issues is quite difficult to
solve. Prolong exposure to devices will cause irriation in eyes, and stratups can ctry to comeup
with innovative methods of videos that can help put less pressure on eyes.

While 53% accepted that network issues pose a major challenge, seems like adaptability is not a
major concern here.

7. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

Some of the recommendations for the aspiring players in the market are:

1) Startups should focus on what the students and teachers need. One should not just create
a product that is already provided by thousands of competitors. Understanding the actual
modern class requirement and trying to solve that problem by introducing unique product
can work well in the industry.

2) Edtech firms should choose the right revenue model for themselves. Many firms are
embracing freemium model as it attracts users very quickly. But it may not always work
as to sustain in the market, revenue flow is important. One must understand how and
when to charge money for their services from users without losing them.

3) Firms should curate applications not just for present, but for future as well. As
technology is constantly changing and education is evolving too, need for updated
techniques will arise and present methods will slowly bypass.

4) Advertising is important, as a very well product might go unnoticed without it. It is

important to target the right set of users and identify the right medium for advertisement.
Some well known players like BYJU’s and Vedantu spend considerable amount in
marketing.

25 | P a g e
Learning is a continuous and ever learning process and the pandemic has changed the dynamics
of Education completely. The adoption of digitalised learning will accelerate like it has never
before. Offline universities and colleges can’t be wiped off completely and the transition is a bit
difficult too, however from a purely market-share perspective, EdTech will penetrate deeper in
India. EdTech is here to stay and never leave.

The main reason of such splendid growth are the startups which are constantly innovating and
launching new products and services in the market, each trying to compete and stand out. For
example, Cuemath is working on integrating the best aspects of offline learning with the online
methods through peer-to-peer learning, group study sessions, healthy competition, challenges,
leaderboards etc.Now that people actually understand how virtual learning works, it is believed
that the curve will just go higher. The post-Covid-19 world will witness these platforms
becoming an important part of education as the pandemic has accelerated change, that
otherwise would have taken a decade or two.

To sum up in the words of Unacademy’s Co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal, "The biggest
consumer internet company in India will not be an ecommerce company, but an education
company.”

26 | P a g e
 REFERENCE

• EdTech - The Advent of Digital Education. (2018, September 18). Retrieved from
NASSCOM website:
https://nasscom.in/knowledge-center/publications/EdTech-advent-digital-education

• www.ETGovernment.com. (n.d.). COVID-19 Pandemic: Impact and strategies for

education sector in India - ET Government. Retrieved from ETGovernment.com website:
https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/education/covid-19-pandemic-
impact-and-strategies-for-education-sector-in-india/75173099

• Kashyaap, S. (2020, July 7). India’s edtech market will touch $3.5B by 2022: RedSeer
and Omidyar Network India report. Retrieved from YourStory.com website:
https://yourstory.com/2020/07/india-edtech-market-17b-2022-redseer-omidyar-network

• Mitter, S. (2020, August 2). Edtech hits hockey stick curve in 2020 with record users,
more funding deals, consolidation. Retrieved from YourStory.com website:
https://yourstory.com/2020/07/edtech-hockey-stick-curve-2020-funding-deals-
consolidation

• Thakur, A. (2021, February 16). Online learning is the future. Education ministry and
UGC must not hold India back anymore. Retrieved April 20, 2021, from ThePrint
website: https://theprint.in/opinion/online-learning-is-the-future-education-ministry-and-
ugc-must-not-hold-india-back-anymore/605503/

27 | P a g e