Chairman
Dear Shareholders,
The financial year 2011-12 was a landmark year in your company`s journey from an IT and
ITES company to being "India`s largest global education company". This
transformational journey has been driven by your company`s focus on providing contemporary
solutions, partnerships with global experts and across the board experience of serving
various stakeholders in the education sector. Today, your company`s business is aligned
across six key elements of education delivery
- Teaching, Learning, Assessment & Intervention, Governance, Advanced Technologies
and Consulting Solutions, which allow your company to present customers with comprehensive
end-to-end solutions. This is aligned to your company`s mission `To improve the quality of
human capital and the learning ecosystem through innovation for better educational
outcomes`.
Our FY12 revenue grew by 50% to Rs. 1,638 crore - 86% of which came from the US, 10%
from the UK and the remaining 4% from India and other countries. The education vertical
contributed 79% to our revenue while other services, such as technical support and ERP,
accounted for the rest. During the period FY07-12, our revenue grew at a compounded annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 51%, a testimonial of your company`s ability to grow in a weak
global environment and low government spending. The operating margins (EBITDA) for FY12
grew at an even higher rate of 60% and the profit after tax grew by 44% over the previous
financial year. This stellar performance has been backed by our strong client
relationships, consistent development of unique IP and the ability to successfully sew
together a host of acquisitions & partnerships and emerge as a specialist in large
scale technology-driven education solutions.
The Global education industry is one of the fastest growing sectors worldwide and the
second-largest industry after healthcare. The market size of the sector is estimated to be
USD 4.45 trillion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.4% amidst a slowing global
economy. In the 21st century, even as the competition amongst nations is increasing, there
is no doubt that at the same time they are also becoming more interdependent. Their future
is ever more dependent on the knowledge and skills of its people, thus creating new
opportunities and challenges for the education sector focused companies like yours. Even
more importantly, the emphasis that education is a basic human right for a nation`s
citizens is being pursued and practiced across the globe. Awareness about education in
developing countries like India and China has further increased the growth rate of the
global education sector.
The developed markets of the United States of America and the European Union constitute
60% and 15% of the global education market respectively. These markets are exploring
solutions to address needs focused around learning, teaching and employability outcomes.
In US alone K-12 education takes up a huge percentage of state budgets (20.5%) and despite
the millions of state dollars poured into K-12 education every year, America`s school
systems are still grappling with the challenges of turning out adequately proficient
students. Your company is trying to address these challenges by providing these
institutions technology based solutions.
I am very sanguine about my outlook for the education sector in India for the coming
years. The government spending on education will be increased to $100 billion in the 12th
Five Year Plan (2012-17) from the estimated $70 billion during the current plan period.
Going forward the government has pledged to increase spend on education to 6% of GDP and
is bringing in a lot of infrastructural and administrative reforms to take the sector to
the next level while opening up to private participation and investment in the country`s
education market.
Your company`s focus on its innovative solutions for Teaching, Learning, Assessment and
Governance has helped countries globally to bridge their ever widening skill deficit and
to significantly raise their educational standards, whilst our Advanced Technologies and
Consulting Solutions are making our customers more efficient. Our future growth strategy
primarily involves replicating the earlier successes in our major markets and
institutionalizing these best practices while tailoring them to local needs of the newer
markets that we intend to cater. Initial signs of success are visible. In India our
solutions in governance are now being used to track education spends in Jharkhand and
Assam even as children of semi-urban and rural schools in states like Haryana, Maharashtra
and Gujarat access computer- aided learning systems and digital interactive content for
their education needs. In FY12, your company won projects worth over Rs. 248 crore from
five different state governments and also implemented projects worth Rs. 568 crore.
We believe that your company`s competency in working with Governments & education
systems and in understanding their needs will hold in good stead in the India-focused
programs and expect the domestic revenue contribution to increase to 10% by FY14.
To further your company`s endeavor of making students "campus or career
oriented", we are also focusing in a big way on vocational training for the Indian
market and intend to take up new initiatives in this area in the current financial year
through an integrated skill-development ecosystem.
Besides India, our focus on developing markets includes our foray into African and
Middle East markets, where we gained initial success with a partnership with the
provincial government of Ras al-Khaimah in the UAE to run a higher education institute
offering management, architecture and engineering degrees in content partnership with BIT,
Ranchi.
To bring the global best to the nations your company serves, we continue to partner
with world renowned experts in various segments. During FY12, we partnered with the East
Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) in U.S. and the Institute of Technical Education
(ITE) in Singapore, both of them renowned for their expertise in vocational education and
training.
Your company in partnership with Center for Higher Learning at John C Stennis Space
Center, NASA has pioneered modern 3D immersive learning by simulating real life experience
for complex subjects on topics that are difficult for students to grasp, learn, experience
and then apply.
Your Company has collaborated with the University of Oxford to focus on comprehensive
teacher quality reform. The programme aims at improving the professional working knowledge
of teachers through a networked learning community that operates across geographies.
Along with Texas Instruments, your company has created a first of its kind
revolutionary integrated educational solution for math and science teaching called
STEMPower. This integrates real-world data, simulations, pictorial aids and multiple
representations to encourage students to make connections, explore concepts and be active
learners, thus empowering them to be successful.
We are making large investments in India and leveraging on our strong product line and
global experience. I expect these investments to significantly contribute to your
company`s growth in the coming years. Our expansion into new geographies like Middle East,
Africa and Far East will also contribute significantly to the Company`s overall growth in
years ahead. Whilst we expect to maintain consistent growth in US revenues, higher growth
is expected in other geographies.
While we have always strived to deliver our best, the global acknowledgment of same is
always heartening. We were recently ranked 4th in the list of "Fastest Growing
Companies in India" and named in Forbes Asia`s list of "Best Companies under a
Billion $". We were also awarded the Best Indian Company operating from US under the
other services category by Indo- American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) and Best Public
Sector Recruitment Agency in UK for 2011. We were also appraised at CMMi 5, the highest
level of process maturity that speaking volumes about our process orientation.
In conclusion, I would like to thank all the employees for their unstinted commitment
and contribution to your company to achieve this spectacular performance. I continue to
look forward to the Board of Directors` guidance and your support during this exciting yet
challenging phase for the company. Your company firmly believes in the power of the mind
and that a single energized, empowered, enlightened mind can transform organizations,
societies and nations. We are confident that this will take us a long way in creating
lasting impressions across the globe as an iconic education brand.
Best wishes
Sanjeev Mansotra
Chairman
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