Coaching Classes Makes Rs 300 Billion A Year!

The 2023-2024 figures showed that the size of the industry could be Rs 30,652 crore, assuming no tax evasion.

Kindly note the image has been posted only for representational purposes. Photograph: Sahiba Chawdhary/Reuters

Then vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar recently said that coaching centres had turned out to be poaching centres.

He was addressing the 4th convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Kota, Rajasthan.

The city has been in the news for alleged cases of suicide by students of coaching centres.

A survey on household social consumption on education in India by the National Sample Survey (NSS) revealed that 19.8 per cent of students attended private coaching centres for basic education in 2017-2018 (July-June).

Estimates regarding the coaching centre industry are varied.

The goods and services tax (GST), imposed at 18 per cent on coaching centres, can give a rough gauge of the industry.

In 2023-2024, GST collection from this head grew by 18 per cent at Rs 5,517.45 crore (Rs 55.17 billion).

The growth rate for the GST collection has been fluctuating due to the low base of the Covid-hit year (2020-2021).

The 2023-2024 figures showed that the size of the industry, excluding those having an annual turnover of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million), could be Rs 30,652 crore (Rs 306.52 billion), assuming no tax evasion.

Urban households spent close to six per cent of their monthly per-capita expenditure on education in 2023-2024, against a bit over three per cent in rural areas.

While this percentage rose in the case of urban households year-on-year, it declined in the case of rural counterparts.