To further their reach, edu-tech companies are adopting a two-pronged strategy: they plan to expand overseas, while looking to establish their presence across more Indian cities. That apart, they are coming up with new-age courses to attract more learners.

“From the scale perspective, we now plan to reach out to tier-2 cities in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, as well as in Jaipur and Chandigarh, where online learning activity is gaining ground. We are also focussing internationally on regions such as South-East Asia, Africa and the UAE, where the edu-tech market is growing,” said Sonya Hooja, Co-founder and Director, Imarticus Learning.

The firm is hoping 20 per cent of its business in 2019 will come from international markets.

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Imarticus also plans to launch programmes on finance and accounting, banking and analytics. All of these programmes would be industry-aligned, added Hooja.

Focus on non-metros

Another edu-tech company, Byju’s, which recently launched its product in Hindi, is aiming to widen its presence in Indian cities. “Today, almost 75 per cent of our users are from non-metro cities. It is encouraging to see increased adoption from over 1,700 town and cities in the country,” said Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer, adding that there is still a long way to go before one can call it an online learning revolution.

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These companies are also trying to increase the use of technology in the way they function.

AI-powered system

“We currently solve 25 per cent of the doubts we receive through artificial intelligence and, for this year, our aim is to increase it to 50 per cent. We are taking both technology and the user experience into consideration. So, while there will also be teachers, we will use technology to clear the doubts,” said Zishaan Hayath, CEO and Co-founder, Toppr.

Hayath explained that once a student asks a question, the AI-powered robot scans through the existing database of questions, and tries to find a relevant answer. If it succeeds, it sends the solution to the student. These doubts cover a wide range of topics — from understanding concepts like Newton’s laws of motion to finding solutions to popular numerical problems.

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