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Devyani Singh

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Director in General Corporate Practice at Mumbai office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Devyani specializes in  transactional and advisory work pertaining to investments and joint ventures. She has worked on several transactions in information technology, manufacturing and renewable energy sectors. She can be reached at devyani.singh@cyrilshroff.com

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Indian EdTech beyond the first phase - A booster shot for long term growth

Part one of this blog-series[1] discussed how factors like Covid-19 pandemic and introduction of the National Education Policy 2020 (“NEP”) enabled expansion of the educational technology (“EdTech”) sector and how it has grown by leaps and bounds in less than a year. Considering the demographics of our country and the deep-rooted conventional educational culture, this blog seeks to look at the key challenges and opportunities for the EdTech sector.
Continue Reading Indian EdTech beyond the first phase: A booster shot for long term growth

Indian Edtech in 2020: The Effective First Shot

The outbreak of Covid-19 brought an unprecedented opportunity for the educational technology (“EdTech”) sector in India. The traditional face-to-face interaction between a teacher and students suffered a setback and almost instantaneously, there was a paradigm shift to the unconventional mode of online learning. This change brought the spotlight on EdTech industry following which it received the requisite financial and policy impetus to thrive through the financial year (FY) 2020-2021. A massive inflow of investments, acquisitions and emergence of new start-ups in the previous fiscal bear testimony to EdTech sector’s meteoric growth.
Continue Reading Indian Edtech in 2020: The Effective First Shot

NEP 2020 - VOCATIONAL EDUCATION - FUEL FOR THE INDIAN DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has defined ‘demographic dividend’ as the growth potential that results from shifts in a population’s age structure.[1] A study conducted by the UNFPA noted that India has an important window of demographic dividend opportunity from about 2005-06 to 2055-56 with 62.5% of the population falling in the working age group of 15 and 59 years. It is expected that the slice of working age group will rise to 65% (approximately) by 2036.[2] This study also recognised the importance of imparting vocational education (VE) to avail the benefits of the demographic dividend.

The National Education Policy, 2020 (Policy) recognises the seminal role of VE in building the Indian demographic dividend. The Policy observes that less than 5% of the Indian workforce within the age bracket of 19–24 years received formal VE when compared to countries such as the USA (52%), Germany (75%), and South Korea (96%).[3] While identifying the need to hasten the development of vocational skills, the Policy highlights the importance of removing rigid distinctions between vocational and academic streams, and eliminating harmful hierarchies between different areas of learning.
Continue Reading NEP 2020: VOCATIONAL EDUCATION – FUEL FOR THE INDIAN DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND

Nep 2020- An Interplay Of Education And Technology

The National Education Policy, 2020 (“Policy”), unveiled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (“MHRD”), is revolutionary in every sense. While the Policy focuses on multiple aspects, including the need for early childhood care, inclusive education and revamping of the current curriculum, an inherent thread that runs through the Policy is the interplay of education and technology.

Over the last decade, India has transformed itself into an ‘information intensive society’ and there is a growing requirement to embrace the usage of technology in the field of education. In this regard, the Policy notes that one of the central principles steering the education system will be the ‘extensive use of technology in teaching and learning, removing language barriers, increasing access as well as education planning and management’.
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Reimagining the Good Times - Start-ups and the Covid-19 Crisis

In recent years, the start-up ecosystem in India has emerged as a reckoning force, largely due to efforts of stakeholders and initiatives implemented by the government to facilitate growth. Investments in start-ups surged from $550 million in 2010 to $14.5 billion in 2019.[1]

The Covid-19 pandemic has now adversely impacted the overall investment climate. While businesses across sectors have felt repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic, start-ups have been particularly vulnerable and are facing formidable challenges both from a business and operations perspective. Most start-ups have witnessed a decline in supply/demand, except those engaged in supply/delivery of ‘essential services’ and edu-tech/gaming/streaming services. However, despite this increased demand, glitches in the supply chain network have presented challenges. The start-up ecosystem has been striving to adapt to the present situation by focussing on the need to innovate and diversify.
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Private Equity Blog - Control Deals Acquisition

Private equity (PE) investors have traditionally invested in the Indian marketplace as ‘financial investors’, acquiring a minority stake in their target with negotiated contractual rights to oversee their financial investments.

The past few years have borne witness to the trend of acquiring “controlling stakes” in the target. Data gathered from public sources suggest that the total value of control deals in India went up from USD 4.8 billion in 2017 to USD 5.9 billion in 2018.
Continue Reading Is Private Equity the New ‘Strategic’? Control Acquisitions are Here to Stay!

Education Technology

The use of digital technology in the education sector is growing at a remarkable pace in India. With news reports giving Byju’s, a Bengaluru based learning app, a valuation of over USD 2 billion in its latest round of investments, the investors’ interest in the education technology (edtech) sector is on the rise.
Continue Reading M&A Trends in the EdTech Sector