Physics Wallah shrugs off profit drop, plans more offline centres
Physics Wallah will open “as many offline centres as it can” in FY25 even if it erodes profits, founder and chief executive Alakh Pandey told ET.
The Noida-based company’s aggressive approach to opening offline centres has not been dampened by the sharp drop in its net profit to Rs 16 crore in FY23 from Rs 98 crore in the previous year.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate in Product ManagementVisitPhysics Wallah, which was valued at more than $1 billion after a funding round in 2022, operates 130 offline coaching centres in 105 cities, of which 55 were opened this fiscal. By the end of next fiscal, it plans to open another 50, Pandey said.
“Offline centres are capex-heavy. To turn a centre profitable, it takes three years. I don't want to wait too long and open offline centres slowly,” Pandey told ET. “Our brand is strong and the student pool is strong, so I want to go across India and open as many offline centres as we can right now. For that, we have to take a hit in the profit.”
Edtech startups operating in the test prep and K-12 segments, such as Physics Wallah, Unacademy and Byju’s, have turned their attention to building a network of offline centres as demand for online offerings has waned with the receding of Covid fears.
According to Pandey, the offline business at Physics Wallah now contributes 40% of
