The Indian higher education sector is set to grow 3x from $55 billion in 2023 to $180 billion by 2035: Report

The dynamic changes in the job market have fueled a surge in interest for courses like data science, AI and ML, blockchain, cloud computing, and various other emerging fields.

The Indian Higher Education market is expected to grow more than $180 billion by 2035 subject to achievement of GER of 50% along with substantial improvement in the existing infrastructure in terms of number of institutions and infusion of committed funding from various stakeholders, as per the latest report by the Anand Rathi Advisors Limited (ARAL), an investment consultant firm.

The report on the Indian Higher Education market was released at the ASU+GSV and Emeritus India Summit 2024 in Gurgaon. This comprehensive report provides an in-depth exploration of the Indian Higher Education market, covering key aspects such as market overview, detailed analysis on increasing GER, skilling and up-skilling, online higher education and tie-ups with ed-tech players, integration of artificial intelligence, the various opportunities for India and more.  Another key focus area is on the skilling and upskilling front and its increasing popularity, ushering the next phase of growth for the higher education market.

Key highlights of the research findings:

• Number of enrolment is expected to increase to 70 million by 2030 in order to achieve 50% GER target also resulting in a rise in per capita GDP. For instance: India per capita GDP is expected to increase by more than 2x with the rise in GER from 31% in 2022 to 50% in 2035
• While the west grapples with ageing demographics and stagnant enrolments, India’s predominantly young population positions the country for a demographic dividend thereby contributing to the increasing number of students pursuing higher education 
• The dynamic changes in the job market have fueled a surge in interest for courses like data science, AI and ML, blockchain, cloud computing, and various other emerging fields.

• Only ~ 2-3% of the institutions are currently offering new age courses, highlighting the significant opportunity for the higher education curricula to evolve and incorporate such new age courses
• There has been a substantial increase in the enrolment for reskilling and up-skilling courses, with the highest demand observed in IT courses, closely followed by business management.
• 85% of the professional with < 3 years of experience consider up-skilling to be an important aspect of their career growth

“At Anand Rathi Investment Banking, education is one of the core practice areas and we strive to offer thorough industry reports on themes that assist global investment communities in their decision making and strategy. The ‘Indian Higher Education – A US$ 180+ billion market’ report is the 7th report in the series of reports released by Anand Rathi Investment Banking team and serves as a catalyst for ongoing discussions amongst industry stakeholders,” Samir Bahl, CEO, Investment Banking, Anand Rathi Advisors Ltd said.

With 11 universities from India featuring in the QS World University Ranking 2024 among the top 500 globally, the highest in South Asia, South-east Asia and Africa, there lies a significant opportunity for Indian higher educational institutions to further expand into under-developed and developing nations by establishing their campuses.”

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“The intricate structure of institutions in the Indian Higher Education Sector with the involvement of trusts/society imposes a challenge for investors looking to invest in this sector. Therefore it is imperative that adequate steps are taken to liberalise the existing structure in order to attract funding from the stakeholders’ community at large,” Atul Thakkar, Director, Investment Banking, Anand Rathi Advisors Ltd, said.