With fees in schools affiliated to foreign boards burning a hole in the pockets of parents, Avanse Financial Services is planning to enter the kindergarten to 12th standard (K-12) education space by offering loans. Annual fees in international schools range from ₹2 lakh to as high as ₹18 lakh.

Neeraj Saxena, CEO of Avanse, said, “We are targeting the working category of parents, who aspire to send their child to international schools, but may not be immediately able to afford it. We expect it (this product) to take off with the growth of the international school culture.”

There are over 600 international schools in India; all of these being affiliated to three foreign boards — the International Baccalaureate based in Geneva, Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), and Edexcel based in the UK.

The company, which specialises in education finance, is currently in talks with leading international schools and plans to launch a pilot in three months, said Saxena.

“Parents are moving beyond conventional schools as they seek to provide experiential learning and focus on extra-curricular activities for their children. Hence, structured loans and EMIs are being designed, as it is no more only those who can afford an international education that are being targeted,” said Narayanan Ramaswamy, head of education practice at consulting firm KPMG.

Saxena added that Avanse Education Finance’s loan book will touch ₹600 crore during the current fiscal year, its third year of operations.

The NBFC specialises in disbursing education loans across Indian and international universities, as well as for executive courses. Avanse is an associate company of Dewan Housing Finance.

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