Ronnie Screwvala syncs with Finance Minister’s plan⁠— upGrad will roll out online degree courses this year

• Online higher education platform upGrad may roll out degree courses in collaboration with Indian and foreign universities, starting next financial year.
  
• The edtech startup said that it is eyeing ₹1,000 crore revenue in 2020-21, thanks to the growing average revenue per user (ARPU).
  
• It is also planning to spend ₹175 crore in branding and marketing campaigns this year.
  

Online higher education platform upGrad may roll out degree courses in collaboration with Indian and foreign universities, starting next financial year. "We are in talks with three universities for jointly developing curriculum for the degree courses,"Ronnie Screwvala, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder told news agency PTI.

This came after the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her latest budget speech said that the government will launch a full-fledged ‘degree-level’ online courses in India and that too by top 100 national ranking institutions. This is aimed at providing quality education to the underprivileged.

The edtech startup said that it is eyeing ₹1,000 crore revenue in 2020-21, thanks to the growing average revenue per user (ARPU). Screwvala said that India is among the countries with the lowest ARPU across sectors like media, telecom, content, retail and others.

"The last three years at upGrad, owing to our high investment in content, learning experience, diversity of programmes, deep tech, strong university alliances and a high over 80 per cent completion rates, have put us at a clear inflection point for this decade," he said.

It is also planning to spend ₹175 crore in branding and marketing campaigns this year.

upGrad offers postgraduate certificates and diplomas for professionals in association with higher education institutions like Cambridge University, Duke University, BITS Pilani, MICA and others.

The startup claims to have over 21,000 users on its platform with an [full form] ARPU of nearly ₹2.4 lakh per learner. It is now planning to add nearly 4,000 more this quarter, reaching an annual run-rate of ₹400 crore. upGrad says it offered jobs in over 300 cities for roles in data, digital, management, software, machine learning and artificial intelligence, thereby adding growth to its revenue.

"Brand affinities are very low and looking for the best or lowest price is the bedrock of the India consumption story. Education is and will be the exception and allocation of wallet share will increase for edTech, as most in the workforce play catch up in their careers with the innovations and disruptions of this century," Screwvala said.

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