India’s students are chasing coveted college places. A private coaching industry is cashing in

“Institutes will outright buy the success stories of top rankers, sometimes offering cash, vehicles, or refunding their entire education – just to paste their faces on a billboard, even if the student only ever took a single mock test with them,” she said.

Other experts said some coaching centres also create “star batches” by identifying top-performing students early and giving them preferential resources like access to sought-after faculty and additional academic support.

This can leave other students with less support, experts said, even as their fees help sustain the institutes’ operations.

FUTURE OF INDIA’S COACHING CULTURE

For students and their families, the sums involved can be substantial.

Mudassar said tuition in smaller towns like Ahilyanagar, located in Maharashtra state, costs around 200,000 rupees a year, although discounts for top-performing students can bring the price down.

In cities like Kota, some institutes charge between 500,000 and 600,000 rupees annually – a significant financial commitment for middle-class families whose annual household incomes can range from around 500,000 to 1.2 million rupees.