Provoke some...

A study completed recently in India on online education by KPMG & Google reveals heart-warming statistics; total revenue will grow from $0.25Bn in 2016 to $1.96Bn in 2021 @CAGR of 52%, Internet users to grow from 409 Mn to 735 Mn and that Smartphone penetration would increase at breakneck speed. The revenue growth is expected to be across all categories viz Primary & Secondary education (which is expected to get the largest share of the pie), Test preparation, Reskilling and online certification, Higher education and Language & Casual learning. Such a market makes online education a ripe fruit to be plucked by many. But this fruit laden tree lies beyond a thorn adorned path that in itself is arduous and serpentine. The challenges spread across all the blocks which need to come together to give shape to this entity called online education. Let’s look at them one by one. Statutory In India, education falls under the not-for-profit category and is totally regulated by t

"It is shocking to see the government is classifying watching movies as luxury and subjecting us to the similar tax structure as of five-star hotels and casinos," said Nitin Sood, CFO of PVR yesterday when the government announced the GST rates on various products and services to be applicable from 1 st July this year. This made me wonder. My initial thought resonated that of Mr Sood as to how can anyone classify watching movies as a luxury? But then I took a step back and did a bit of number crunching. So, ladies and gentlemen, tighten your seat belts as what you are going to experience is shock albeit quite opposite to the shock experienced by Mr Sood. In India, any movie which grosses Rs 100 cr (USD 15 Mn) is considered a super hit. This makes sense considering the average revenue per film is an abysmal Rs 5-10 Cr (USD 1-1.5 Mn). Most of this is collected in the first week itself since unlike the days of yore when the success of the movies was defined by their ru