India’s online education industry is expected to grow almost eight times to hit $1.96 billion by 2021, with the number of paid users rising six-fold from 1.6 million now to 9.6 million, says a joint report by search giant Google and consultancy firm KPMG.
Over the last two years, the number of online searches for education has doubled. Searches from mobile devices have risen even faster, trebling over the period, says the report titled ‘Online Education in India: 2021’. The research covered over 3,600 respondents across 27 geographies, including metros and non-metros.
Interestingly, as much as 44% of total education-related searches are now coming from outside of the top six metros. Also, there has been four-fold growth in the consumption of educational videos on YouTube in the last one year, the report added.
By segment, re-skilling and online certification is the largest. In 2016, it was valued at $93 million, and is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38% to reach $463 million by 2021.
Primary and secondary education has the largest addressable audience with a student base of around 260 million, making it the second-largest category in 2016. However, the report predicts that it will become the largest category by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 60% to reach $773 million.
Test preparation, a small segment as of today, is likely to grow at an impressive CAGR of 64%, becoming a $515-million category…