ICA Edu Skills aims to clock 25% growth in revenue in FY25 ; to focus on paid subscribers

The company's net loss narrowed 89% to just Rs 1.2 crore in FY22 from to Rs 11.37 crore in FY21.

October 3, 2023 08:10 IST

The company claims to have a network of over 100 franchisees across the country offering paid courses through ICA.

ICA Edu Skills, a vocational training and placement institute claims to bridge the gap between employment and placements through skill development courses in the field of accounting, digital marketing, data analytics, and financial markets to prepare students for real-world scenarios. What sets ICA apart is its commitment to offering job-guaranteed courses designed with a practical approach, equipping students with skills directly applicable to the job market, Ankit Shyamsukha, co-founder, ICA Edu Skills, told FE Education. “The company’s remarkable track record includes placing over five lakh candidates in accounts, banking, finance and taxation alone in the last seven to eight years,” he added.

The company aims to clock a 25% growth in net revenue by the end of FY24. According to Shyamsukha, the company is focussed on deliberately reducing its dependence on the sponsored vertical. “Consequently, while there may be a decline in revenue from the sponsored vertical, our paid vertical has been experiencing significant growth, with a consistent annual increase in profits of approximately 25%. Additionally, our franchise network expanded by 15% in the past year,” he added.

The company’s net loss narrowed 89% to just Rs 1.2 crore in FY22 from Rs 11.37 crore in FY21, according to regulatory filings accessed by the business intelligence platform Tofler. While revenue from operations rose 12% to Rs 82.52 crore in FY22 from Rs 73.64 crore in FY21.“We are planning to become profitable by the next financial year with a primary focus on paid subscribers on our platform. Even as we have always been a profitable company since the start of our journey the last two years were challenging for us. It is mainly due to the Covid-19’s effect and pending amounts from the government bodies are one of the major reasons for the losses incurred in the last two years,” Shyamsukha explained.

The company claims the generate revenue from two sources – one is from the paid courses. For this the average course fee earned by it is about Rs 55,000 per course per student. . Its second source of income is through collaborations with government bodies which sponsors courses for underserved students. “ICA Edu Skills has partnered with various government bodies, including the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Skill Development. Through these partnerships, we have trained individuals in 22 sectors, ranging from hospitality to electronics, solar and more,” he said.

The company claimed to have placed approximately 40,000 students last year from both the verticals and to five lakh students in the last seven to eight years. As for the duration and fee, ICA Edu Skills claims to offer a range of programmes. The duration varies from one month to 18 months, besides offering job-guaranteed courses which last a minimum of three months. “Fees can start as low as Rs 5,000 and go up to Rs one lakh, depending on the course’s complexity and duration. On average, students pay around Rs 55,000 for their chosen programmes,” he added.

As per the firm, its order book, which initially had bookings worth Rs 200 crore, remained stagnant and declined annually due to the government’s reduced expenditure on skill development courses during the pandemic. “At that time, the government had prioritised other agendas such as healthcare and other essential items, leading to a decrease in spending on skill development. There were no sponsored skill development initiatives launched by the government from March 2020 up to the present day. As a result, the revenue stream derived from these programmes either disappeared entirely or experienced significant reductions,” he noted.