The Yash Birla Group, which owns language learning labs across 800 schools through its company Birla Shloka Edutech, on Wednesday signed an agreement to partner Malaysian business conglomerate Melewar Group to start English training solutions product ?Direct English? in India. The joint venture company plans to roll out 500 centres in 15 states in the next three to five years.
The product, which will be sold to English language learners between 20 and 45 years of age, will be offered by UK-based language training solutions provider Linguaphone Group, which had acquired Direct English from the Pearson Group in 2003.
?Birla Edutech and Melewar will jointly act as the licensee for Direct English in corporate and retail markets in India and Malaysia,? said Derek Price, CEO of the Linguaphone Group.
Birla Edutech will build learning centres through franchises. ?Centres will be rolled out starting with Rajasthan and Maharashtra,? said N Srikrishna, MD of Birla Shloka Edutech.