Received: 18 January 2020 Revised: 4 March 2020 Accepted: 9 March 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2128

ACADEMIC PAPER

Emerging trend set by a start-ups on Indian online education

system: A case of Byju's

Sasikanta Tripathy | Suman Devarapalli

SRM University-AP, Guntur, India

Correspondence
Sasikanta Tripathy, SRM University-AP,
Neerukonda, Mangalagiri, Guntur, Andhra
Pradesh 522502, India.
Email: stripathy.iitkgp@gmail.com
The study is aimed at exploring the growth of Byju's Market in K12, which has
brought new and emerging trends in the field of education, especially e-learning has
been made easy through visualized, animated video, and audio classes for grades 4th
to 12th especially for mathematics and science subjects. It also extends its courses
for CAT, JEE, NEET, and IAS. The objective of the study is to describe the growth of
this startup to unicorn and becoming one of the most valued startup in India standing
in the 4th spot. The founder of Byju's wish to make the Indian education like what
the Mouse House did for entertainment. The study focused with comparison of fel-
low rival brands along with their SWOT analysis, purely based on secondary and
behavioral data which was collected from available websites, rating agencies, articles,
and case study of Harvard Business School, which were published in newspapers by
different personalities. There is high scope for the project in future for researchers in
this industry.

1 | I N T RO DU CT I O N The founder Raveendran believes that once children find e-learn-

India's most used e-learning app, Byju's, was founded by Raveendran,
who is one of most successful startup business person in India. It
involves in dealing with Ed-tech, Distance Education, and Mobile
learning (M-learning). Slogan for the app is “Fall in love with learning”
which attracted customers for boosting the business growth. The
unique selling point is “we make every student fall in love with learn-
ing and not focus on just the motivated ones and the toppers” (http://
byjus.com). The main segment of the business is to provide a platform
for e-learning with exited examples in order to increase the concen-
tration level of students. The target group comprises of students of all
categories, all boards in India, especially from classes 4th to 12th.
Besides this, the app also provides special products for graduates,
who try to crack competitive exams, such as CAT, IAS, GRE, and
GMAT. The position of the brand in the market is a leading educa-
tional technology space in the hearts of the young and dynamic kids
of India. It is the fastest E-learning app in India, only focused on learn-
ing the concept through visualization and explained through various
teaching tools, in a simple and better manner, where the learning out-
come is best in possible especially for mathematics and science
subjects.
ing as a fun method of learning, they can start by their own. It's like a
self-conveniences and motivation to construct faith in the minds of
students and parents. He says that simplified learning experience that
Byju's offers is the key reason for its huge growth. Byju's is strongly
controlled by men of 500 in R&D team, who tries to produce pack-
aged content for the students, the main of product of the company is
the mobile app which is termed as “Byju's the learning app” is
launched prestigiously in the year 2015. The most difficult and tricky
subjects such as mathematics and science were explained via visual-
ized digital animated videos around 20–30 min. As per the company
early estimations, it holds nearly 33 million users so far with minimum
paid-up subscribers of 2.2 million users annually. Besides that, the app
holds 85% of its customers throughout the year. Students spend on
an average 55 min every day, which results in developing their learn-
ing style with better understanding and maximum output from the
content learned (http://byjus.com).
As of September 2019 number of downloaded apps by the users
are 25 lakhs Plus. More than 200 Million questions have been cleared
by the experts to the subscribers. Its operation spread to more than
1,400 cities and towns across India (Warrier, 2018). To expand its
operations in India, the company had taken a decision to acquire US

J Public Affairs. 2021;21:e2128. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 1 of 7
https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2128

2 of 7
based learning app called “Osmo” with a whooping price of $ 120 mil-
lion, besides to grab the market of “kinder garden to grade three”
company launched a separate application to guide and educate these
kids (Anupam, 2018). There is a rapid growth in revenue of the com-
panies in the year 2017 at Rs. 260 crores compared to previous finan-
cial year performance, followed by in the year 2018 company
generated revenue worth of Rs. 520 cores. Revenue is doubled com-
pared to previous financial year. It happened mainly because of mar-
ket retention (Mishra & Madhav, 2019). To reach estimated revenue
of Rs. 1900 crores for the year 2019 company had taken a decision to
launch its app in different regional languages to make easy for kids to
understand the concept and learning the best out of it. Furthermore,
company targeted to launch international version for the English
speaking students in foreign countries (Nair, 2017).
This study tries to elaborate the success story of the founder, his
growth, and journey, corporate profile besides the marketing strate-
gies been followed. Specifically, a comparative study of Byju's and its
rivals in the market, based on SWOT analysis and Marketing Mix has
been performed. Marketing strategies and SWOT analysis of the com-
pany were something unique and different from that of their rivals
such as Toppers, Vedantu, Merit nation, etc. The app shows complete
dominance over its rivals (Ghosh, 2017).
India has a huge population of 1.3 + billion, and is the second larg-
est in terms of population after China in the world. It is expected to
have 50% of its population under the age group of 30 and below,
which means India is a young nation having solid human resources. It
is anticipated that nearly 50 million students are going to schools, col-
leges, and educational institutions for preparing competitive examina-
tions (Thomas, 2016). The industry may see massive improvement
due to cheap availability of 4G services with affordable smart phones.
2 | D A TA C O L L EC TE D
This paper gives an insight into the learning app Byju's by collect-
ing data from secondary sources such as: articles, websites, review
rating agencies, and other source of information tools. The meth-
odology completely highlights Byju's journey and its market
growth. The SWOT analysis with their rivals in the market are
compared. It's completely behavioral and bias based presentation
with the help of available study of Byju's journey in the market
and growth.
3 | LITERATURE REVIEW
Quality education is a great concern for every nation in order to eradi-
cate poverty. Availability of education at an affordable price is a ques-
tion mark for developing countries. Mostly in developing countries
private educational institution play a crucial role in the delivery of
education, skills required and training as per requirement in the com-
petitive market. A case study is conducted on Byju's and its impact on
education system in India (Casanova, 2017).
14791854, 2021, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pa.2128 by Central Library, Wiley Online Library on [09/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
TRIPATHY AND DEVARAPALLI
Similar type of case study had been carried out by the Harvard
Business School “the expansion of emerging startup Byju's into differ-
ent parts of the world.” This study explains impact of learning app in
the minds of young children with the help of SWOT analysis and mar-
keting strategies in tie up (Kim and Tahilyani, 2018). Decoding Byju's
journey from Startup to Unicorn, the edtech is now a part of India's
prestigious unicorn club with $1 billion estimated growth (Soni, 2018).
4 | T R E ND A N A L Y S I S A N D S T Y L I Z E D
FA C TS
Byju's is one of the most sensational app for e-learning started by
Raveendran in the year 2011 and it was developed by Think and
Learn Pvt. Ltd, having headquarters in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Number of employees as of September 3, 2019 is 200 and revenue of
the firm is Rs. 5,200 million (US $ 75 million), the total equity of the
firm is $5.4 billion (Mishra & Madhav, 2019).
The business started with an initial amount of Rs. 2 lakhs. Byju's
started out with classroom teaching and, over the years, it emerged as
an educational technology company, with a focus on online opera-
tions. Byju's learning app, launched in August 2015 has been a game
changer, and is now contributing 90% to its earnings (Vignesh, 2017).
The app mainly concentrates on young minds learning process
through effective original content, live streaming video lectures
through animation, and interactive simulations which helps students
to understand with easy grasp topics easily and in a fun manner
(Dubey, 2017).
Byju's is one of the most successful startup in India having an
average annual subscription from its customers of around Rs. 10,000,
which resulted in generation of huge revenue of Rs. 4 Crore in its first
year of commencement of business operation (2011–12). In just
about 5 years of incorporation, the company has seen massive growth
in terms of revenue of Rs. 129 crore for the FY 2015–16, besides the
employees of organization had grown from 10 to almost 1,000. Its
staff strength has also grown from 10 to 900 (Elias, 2017).
Raveendran trained as an engineer but he is more passionate to
teach mathematics and educate the students for their competitive
examinations since 2006. Later in the year 2011 he started an educa-
tional video-based online company along with his students, targeting
different programmes for k-12 and preparation of material for com-
petitive examination. For supporting technically, the company devel-
oped “think and learn” in the year 2012. After 4 years of inception
and sustainable development company launched a mobile app called
“Byju” the learning app for the k-12 students and after the launch of
this app there were nearly 2 million downloads from play store within
3 months of apps launch. Later, it is declared by “Google play India
rating” that “Byju app is best self-improved app” for the year 2016 in
the month of December (http://byjus.com). The mammoth continued
for the next year 2017, where the company launched Byju's Math app
for kids to retain their interest towards mathematics and developed
Parent connect app to have track on their child's performance along
with level of understanding. Interestingly after the growth of Byju's

TRIPATHY AND DEVARAPALLI
app, it is considered as the most prestigious university's business case
study (Harvard University), after that company held 15 million users in
the year 2018 with a paid-up subscribes of 90,000 (Soni, 2018).
Byju's, which seeks to alter the way students learn, offers special-
ized products for children from Classes IV to XII standards, besides
those it also provides special products for graduates such as CAT, IAS,
GRE, and GMAT courses with special features. The focus is on making
students learning illustrative and appropriate, rather than just theoret-
ical. The India's startup giant has backup of leverage technology and
data to offer modified lessons (Anshul, 2017).
Online learning platform intend to deliver high quality, easy learn-
ing through visualization. The company makes use of original and nat-
ural content, watch-and-learn videos of different concepts in an easy
manner. To receive a personalized experience, the company provides
rich animations and interactive sessions with top most experts. The
company's objective is to provide an easy way of learning to the
young kids and students, so that; they may enjoy the learning process
which results better output in their examination. The current app initi-
ates to deliver lectures in attractive through animated short videos,
hence it will be like interactive personalized learning for the students
(http://byjus.com).
5 | SERVICES AND PRODUCTS
As the company think of something new and innovative in education
sector and over all development of students, the launch of mobile app
made it very easy to assess topics subject wise in a short visualized, dig-
ital animated videos for the students. This app developed educational
related content mainly for school students of different classes and dif-
ferent boards. This app also prevails special training facilities for com-
petitive exams in India and abroad. The main focus of the app is science
and mathematics subjects. Online series of classes were available from
classes of 4th to 12th. CAT and IAS special coaching classes range from
Rs. 12 to 91 k. (http://byjus.com). In the market, many competitors are
playing their role, for instance Vedantu, Toppr, Merit nation, Simplilearn,
Khan Academy, Wonder school, and Age of Learning.
6 | STRATEGY
In order to survive and grow in the present day scenario, every busi-
ness needs to follow some unique strategy. Byju's is not an exception
to this phenomenon. It is following cracking the B2C market strategy,
marketing mix, product mix, pricing strategy, place strategy, and pro-
motion strategy. It is a product which targeted young minds as their
customers, it is the most trusted and believed app for the students in
self-learning, self- motivating, and self-preparation to bang in their
board examinations and competitive examination with 10 % rather
spoon-feeding the students with memorization methods. As this app
helped the students to improve their skills, understanding, and mental
ability, as a result student association with company made the journey
of this app a grand successful in k-12 education sector. This app made
14791854, 2021, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pa.2128 by Central Library, Wiley Online Library on [09/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
3 of 7
rapid development among the student community and cracked busi-
ness-to-customer market (B2C) with highest market share and cus-
tomer to customer (C2C) as well. It had happened not just because of
e-learning app but the trust and faith that both child and parent had
on this company's commitment towards development of kids in the
nation (Dasgupta, 2017).
6.1 | Marketing Mix
India's most valuable and largest ed-tech company which offers
mobile app called “Byju” as this is e-learning app and its targeted cus-
tomers were k-12th classes. This app offers high quality animated
videos with attractive visualization offers effective learning pro-
gramme for different categories of students beside this app also pro-
vide few competitive material for students like JEE for engineering
advance and mains, NEET for medicine, CAT for management studies,
GRE and GMAT for international exams. The company reports dis-
closes nearly 6.5 million downloads of video lectures from website, a
whooping annual paid uses of 3 lacks and in addition of every month
30,000 new students views this app and an average time spent by the
users around 65 min in a day. This app is user-friendly so as to make
learning easy for the younger minds in terms of learning the concepts
through visualization and live examples (Dwivedi, 2016). A company's
growth and success depends on their marketing strategies along with
quality of service and product availability as marketing mix covers 4
Ps they were product, price, place, and promotion (http://byjus.com).
6.2 | Product Mix
It refers to the total number of products sold within a product line,
elements which are involved in product mix are branding, labeling, and
packaging. Different learning programmes for different age groups,
especially deals with mathematics and science subjects for JEE+ NEET
examinations. It had a product differentiation under different age
groups starting from 4th to 12th standard with a special package for
the extra course available in the website (Venkatesh, 2018).
6.3 | Categories of products
For KG a special video visualization programmer: 4th–10th mathemat-
ics and science subjects with video animated method, 11th–12th PCB,
PCM, PCMB for IIT JEE+ NEET special coaching streams, CAT material
and video classes for MAB who can enter into IIMS and B-Schools for
their admissions, GATE and IAS with 2019 and 2020 special editions.
6.4 | Price of the products
Byju's had targeted the customers of different age groups under dif-
ferent categories. No internet is required. Works on both smart

4 of 7
phones and tablets with android version above 4.2.1, Engaging video
lectures (can be stored in drives, CD, and other sources) that appeal to
the young minds, not only do the video lectures through animatronics
which stimulate interest towards math & science but also boost the
overall retention and learning capability of the student.
Class 4 – (Category: CBSE/ICSE) Mathematics & Science-
₹4,000–₹37,500, Class 5 – (Category: CBSE/ICSE) Mathematics &
Science, ₹4,000–₹37,500, Class 6 – Mathematics & Science,
₹5,000–₹37,500; ₹1,000 + hours of engaging videos covering all con-
cepts, Class 7 – Mathematics & Science; ₹5,000–₹37,500: ₹1,000+
hours of engaging videos covering all concepts (http://byjus.com).
Multiple chapter-wise mock tests for students to practice and
revise from Class 8 – Mathematics & Science: ₹5,000–₹37,500, Class
9 – Mathematics & Science: ₹6,000–₹37,500, Class 10 – Mathemat-
ics & Science: ₹6,000–₹37,500, Class 11: PCB (Physics, Chemistry and
Biology) NEET: 60,000–72,500, Class 11th: PCM (Physics, Chemistry
and Mathematics) JEE Preparation, 60,000-72,500, Class 11th: PCMB
(Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics) JEE + NEET, 60,000–
72,500, Class 11th +12th: PCB NEET Preparation, ₹80,000–₹92,500,
Class 11th + 12th: PCM JEE Preparation ₹80,000–₹92,500, Class
11th + 12th PCMB (JEE + NEET Preparation) ₹85,000–₹97,500, IAS
main test series-2019 (₹12,000), IAS 2020 (Pre & Mains) Tablet
course ₹75,000–₹82,500, IAS 2020 (Pre & Mains) Tablet course Hindi
75,000–82,500, IAS Anthropology Optional Online Streaming
₹40,000, IAS Sociology Optional Tablet Course ₹40,000 – ₹47,500
and CAT 2019 Course –Tablet + 14 Books ₹45,000–₹52,500. There
were only minor changes in pricing for the products offered for its
customers (http://byjus.com).
6.5 | Place
Byju's has its headquarters in Bangalore, Chennai, Noida, and Dubai
(the branches are spread across the globe, now BYJU is trying to enter
T H R E AT S
• Challenges from new entrants.
T
• Government regulations and
bureaucracy.
• Foreign entrants.
O
OP PORTUNITIES
• First to grab market size
• Productive opportunity in international
market.
• Reducing cost of market entry.
• Increasing standardization.
FIGURE 1 SWOT analysis of Byju's. Source: Company reports and authors own compilation
14791854, 2021, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pa.2128 by Central Library, Wiley Online Library on [09/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
TRIPATHY AND DEVARAPALLI
into China and United States., It's operation are through Mobile
Phones, Laptops, PCs, Tablet, etc. It has no geographical boundaries
for its operations, user need to create an account through website
and can view the lectures online (http://byjus.com).
6.6 | Distribution techniques
A new sales model had been brewing at Byju's—a direct, feet-on
street technique or approach with executives going home to home in
small cities to sell the education-technology company's product. This
is in a way, inconsistent with what you would expect from an internet
company, which tends to leverage customer data and digital platforms
to achieve sales targets. “Instead of mentoring (pitching to customers)
over a call, (sales representatives) would do it in person, which results
in more productivity.” Set up a home demo and urge them to buy a
package (Jha, 2019).
6.7 | Promotions
Byju's involved in all the areas of serious consumer like Television at
national level. It is promoted by Sharrukh Khan in Hindi and in telugu,
and it is promoted by Mahesh Babu. It also motivates the employees
for FIFA World Cup and International Cricket Council match of India,
Oppo replaced by Byju's on Team India Jersey (http://byjus.com).
7 | SWOT ANALYSIS
To survive in the competitive market, understanding business environ-
ment internally and externally is very essential tool for every business.
This business environment can be better estimated with the help of
SWOT analysis, elaborately knowing the strength of the company
S •
STRENGTHS
Strong personnel of 500 in R&D
Department.
• Sustainable competitive advantages
•
Strong intellectual property right
• Strong in domestic market
W
Byju's
W EAKNESSES
• Lack of Artificial Intelligence and Code
language.
• Low return on investment
• Complaint mechanism not well developed.
• Expensive.
• Lacks in technology Implementation
 14791854, 2021, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pa.2128 by Central Library, Wiley Online Library on [09/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
TRIPATHY AND DEVARAPALLI 5 of 7

which may be the efficient manpower, tools, marketing strategies, etc.,
making use of this strength as acquiring market growth. After identify-
ing company's weakness, finding solution to overcome the weakness of
the company with better plans to compete with competitors in the mar-
ket, next identifying and grabbing the opportunities in market and
becoming first mover for leverage opportunities, finally knowing the
company threats in the market for reducing future losses in the busi-
ness, and to develop strategies to beat competitors in the market, even
the Byju's app adopts and implement the SWOT analysis based on
industry structure and country's regulations. The following table elabo-
rates the SWOT analysis of Byju's in a detailed manner (Figure 1).
The above SWOT chart represents some internal and external attri-
butes those helpful and at the same time few attributes those are harm-
ful for Byju's overall development. This India's online education
business has many strengths such as: it can built a sustainable competi-
tive advantage in the marketplace; a strong balance sheet and financial
statement, intellectual property rights; a high margins compared to
competitors in the market. Strong in domestic market with innovative
and growth of company; a successful in launching the new product in
the market, It has strong personnel of 500 in R&D Department and
Having Good Brand Segment. At the same time the it is suffering from
may weakness such as: implementation of technology in processes; lack
of critical talent in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and code lan-
guage; a low return on investment on several projects of the business;
no proper complaint mechanism developed, not focused on commerce
and art related materials and information. Many external attributes are
associated with the company as discussed in the above chart.
7.1 | Competitive SWOT analysis with Toppers,
Merit Nation and Vedantu
Online education system in India is very popular and competitive at
present days. It's not only Byju's, but also several other competitors,
such as: Toppers, Merit Nations, Vedantu, Step-App, etc. has come up
to showcase their talent and acquire the market share. Following
charts represents the competitive SWOT analysis of Byju's along with
three other major competitors (Figure 2).
The above comparative SWOT chart represents the case of Byju's
along with Toppers, Merit Nations, and Vedantu. Although Byju's is
enjoying with highest market share, still many more things need to
incorporate to face challenges from competitors.
8 | STEP TO INCREASE MARKET SHARE
(a) Basic hindrance to most of the companies is price and quality, even
for the Byju's price is one of the factors. Thus most likely solution to
this problem would be nothing but decreasing the prices of the prod-
ucts offered to the customers compared to competitors' price, but
profitability of joint should not hamper the business. (b) The next pos-
sible step of Byju's is to spread the awareness to the targeted cus-
tomers through various means of advertisements in local language
and non-local language keeping specific categories of customers in
India. Instead of 15 days trial to the customers giving 1 month and
above may attract the number of customers to view the website with
constant user free app. (c) Increase the number of outlets for the
Byju's App with quality sales men, who can promote the product
aggressively. It has to compare the competitive analysis of other prod-
ucts and realize the current standing. (d) Providing low cost service to
the customer on their product uses. (e) The Byju's need to maintain
customer retention policy along with refers and earns policy to gain
the customer concern, need to focus strongly on promotion mix which
consisting of advertising, personal selling, sales techniques and public
relations to increase the number of customers. (f) The Byju's is pro-
moting its app only through SRK and Mahesh Babu, still it had to
select celebrities to endorse the product in North and South India,
Sponsoring IPL, Pro Kabadi, being part of Movies like other products.

STRENGTHS WE A KN E S S E S OPPORTUN ITIES T H R E AT S

• Strong personnel in
• Affordability of the • Different marketing • Entering of foreign
R&D.
courses. techniques. companies.
• Consolidate and expand.
• Lack of quality in • Recognizable brand in • Difficult to handle
Byju's • Best Startups in terms of
variety. the digital learning. middle Class people.
brand Value.

• Expert Content, Self-

Assessment. • Primary target audience • Grab the market share • Tough competition.
• High Success Ratio. K-12. • Personalized experience • Weak in promotional
Toppers • Biggest television • Less brand value. according to your level. strategies.
networks in India.

• Different formal styles and • Assessment standards of

techniques • Negative reviews. US & Canada.
• Less brand loyalty.
Merit • Clarify doubts using ‘chat’ • Less visualization and • Content Development for
Nation • Struggle to promote brand.
with teacher brand value. Ministry of education.
• Rich animated content • Experienced team.

• Traditional teaching • Focuses on K-12. • Strong entry in the market.

• Faces heavy competition.
• No lot of variety. • Replacement to traditional
channels. • No clean image to the
Vedantu • 1-on-1 study sessions. • Less digitalization. teaching.
customers.
• Reasonable affordability .

FIGURE 2 Competitive SWOT analysis. Source: Companies' reports and authors own compilation

6 of 7
8.1 | Marketing techniques
Improvising total visits of customers from 6.5 to 10 m, increasing the
followers in twitter to promote the products through social media,
make sure customers grow with you, social concept of digitalization,
market associations of Kids and youth brands to attract the cus-
tomers, sponsorship to one girl child, often kids and educational spon-
sorships for backward and hilly areas in the name of social
responsibilities to strengthen the brand value in rural India, concept of
quality through utmost satisfaction.
8.2 | Aggressive intelligence move
(a) Discovering unexplored market segment with innovative ideas, (b)
gaining the name of affordability price tag for the Brand in the minds
of targeted customers, (c) off line video lecture availability service for
the users and less usage of Internet service and developing the screen
which does not affect the retina of customers.
8.3 | Customer relationship building
(a) Regular cost feedback for the products available to them, (b) reward-
ing the Loyal customers who are part of product success, and (c) intro-
duction of customer oriented intimation as per their requirements.
9 | A R E A O F G A P S N E E D S TO B E F I LL E D
B Y TH E B YJ U ' S
The company needs to focus on the following gaps for its betterment:
(a) Limited target audience for the targeted audience mainly focused
on Mathematics and Science subjects ignoring others subjects, (b)
price affordability for different interested groups need be separate
because all may not be affording same type of price, and (c) entering
into new products bringing more competition.
1 0 | S U G G E S T I O N F O R KE E P I N G G O O D
B R A N D V A L U E O F A CO M P A N Y
The following are few points that Byju's could consider for its better
brand value. (a) It is found that company done extremely well to offer
affordable brand to its loyal customers, yet company need to concen-
trate on few important areas. (b) To compete with competitors such
as Toppers, Merit nation, Vedanta, and some other companies in the
market, needs to focus towards physical distribution in a systematic
way. (c) Revenue as an important source, long-term customer percep-
tion of a brand is not absolutely good, but it had shown the growth of
improvement. (d) Customers were not completely happy with the
behavior and service of the app, and were lagging far behind the other
competitors in the market. (e) Special focus on promotional mix to
14791854, 2021, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pa.2128 by Central Library, Wiley Online Library on [09/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
TRIPATHY AND DEVARAPALLI
reach wide local area in country. (f) Pricing strategy to be reconsidered
based influence of population and their income level. (g) Aggressive
sales promotion techniques with better features. (h) Strengthening
the R&D with new invention and user friendly access. (i) In CBSE and
ICSE, students feel pricing as an important factor and their mind set is
trying to shift towards other brands available in the market. (j) The
brand has less recognition and familiarity in rural in India.
10.1 | Review of predicament areas need to be
focused more by the management
Along with the above points, the company could also be focused on
the following. (a) Role of technology in education sector has seen a
tremendous improvement especially in K-12 education, showing a
path for e-learning through mobile app. (b) According to the govern-
ment backed Indian Brand equity foundation “India's online learning
market is expected to more than double to $5.7 billion by 2020.” (c)
Improvising the techniques to grab the opportunities for online classes
in the market. (d) Having Strong acquisitions from foreign brands to
strengthen the financial position and content wise improvements.
11 | C O N CL U S I O N
Invention of Byju's app brought rapid change in the field of e-learning.
This learning enabled young generation of India, to learn easily, to
understand concepts in a simple, better, and effective manner. Avail-
ability of mobile phones with 4G network also made this app to be a
great success in the education sector. This e-learning sector may see a
greater scope in future years due to availability of 5G network ser-
vices. According to the founder “he wants to do something great for
Indian education what the Mouse House did for entertainment”
(Raveendran Founder of Byju's). The present study tries to emphasis
on marketing mix of the start-up, the strategies that made the com-
pany to be a great success in the market in terms of growth and mar-
ket share. It also elaborates comparative study of Byju's SWOT
analysis with its rivals in the market. The source of date used for this
study is purely secondary data. There is a lot of scope for educational-
ists and research scholars to do further research on this case in differ-
ent perspective's like empirical study on Byju's, financial performance,
impact of Byju's app on education system and role of Byju's in shaping
kids minds in India (Russell, 2018).
Byju's had brought spontaneous trend in the field of e-learning in
Indian Educational Sector, where one can easily understand 21st Cen-
tury education sector has seen massive improvement with younger
kids in the nation, they need something new, innovative, creative
rather than the traditional way of class room teaching. Byju's and its
rivals happened to fill the gap in education system with visualized, e-
learning through internet basis. In his words, Raveendran wants to do
something great for Indian education what the Mouse House did for
entertainment (Founder of Byju's). Online learning industry had seen
tremendous growth since inception of 4G networks in India, the

TRIPATHY AND DEVARAPALLI
industry may see high growth within few years by 2025, may be after
5G the growth of online educational industry growth prediction may
seem to be unpredictable.
It may be the online visualized learning portal but student has to
utilize the technology in optimum level rather in some other ways.
This case is mostly to bring out the smartness of a school teacher
who has turned to be a young entrepreneur of the nation, like VG
Siddhartha of Coffee Day enterprise (Suman, et al., 2019). Let the
new learning be in an effective way by the younger kids rather like
addictive. The study tries to emphasis on marketing mix of the
startup, the strategies that have been followed to expand the growth
and market share. It also elaborates comparative study of SWOT
analysis of Byju's with its rivals in the market. Once the teacher called
facilitator, instructor, guide, second parent, etc., but now in the pre-
sent era we may not use all these terms reason technology, we can
be called co-learner along with the kids. There is a lot of scope for
educationalists and research scholars to do something on this sector
since we all are living in a digitalized world and to use the technology
in a positive way for healthy manner for all the younger kids in the
country.
ORCID
Sasikanta Tripathy https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3193-0190
RE FE R ENC E S
Anshul, D. (2017). Byju's acquires TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson.
Retrieved from http://www.forbesindia.com/article/special/byjus-
acquires-tutorvista-and-edurite-from-pearson/47449/1
Anupam, S. (2018). The Rise of India's Billion-Dollar Club: Edtech Startup
BYJU'S Turns Unicorn. Retrieved from https://inc42.com/buzz/the-
rise-of-indias-billion-dollar-club-edtech-startup-byjus-turns-unicorn/
Casanova, A. M. (2017). Byju's: How a learning app is promoting deep concep-
tual understanding that is improving educational outcomes in India. UK:
International Finance Corporation World Bank Group. Retrieved from
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/292931525344147810
Dasgupta, G. (2017, Aug 25). Reinventing the classroom, says Byju
Raveendran of Byju's: The learning app. Retrieved from https://www.
financialexpress.com/education-2/reinventing-the-classroom-says-
byju-raveendran-of-byjus-the-learning-app/755401/.
Dubey, T. (2017, Feb 15). Byju's new gamified app wants to make studying
mathematics real fun for students. Retrieved from https://www.
businessinsider.in/byjus-new-gamified-app-wants-to-make-studying-
maths-real-fun-for-students/articleshow/57166026.cms
Dwivedi, V. (2016, June 13). Why Byju Raveendran's firm is leading in the
educational technology space. Retrieved from https://economictimes.
indiatimes.com/wealth/earn/why-byju-raveendrans-firm-is-leading-in-
the-educational-technology-space/articleshow/52700525.cms
Elias, J. (2017). How BYJU'S built India's most popular learning app.
Retrieved from https://in.pcmag.com/edtech/117879/how-byjus-built-
indias-most-popular-learning-app
Ghosh, D. (2017). Byjus' CEO targets entry into unicorn club; aims to turn
profitable in FY18. Retrieved from https://www.moneycontrol.com/
news/business/companies/byjus-ceo-targets-entry-into-unicorn-club-
aims-to-turn-profitable-in-fy18-2286985.html
Jha, S. (2019). Byju's Group: The world is his classroom. Retrieved from
http://www.businessworld.in/article/Byju-s-Group-The-World-Is-His-
Classroom/29-04-2019-169817/
Kim, J. H., & Tahilyani, R. (2018, November). BYJU'S The Learning App. Har-
vard Business School Case. Retrieved from https://www.hbs.edu/
faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52474.
14791854, 2021, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pa.2128 by Central Library, Wiley Online Library on [09/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
7 of 7
Mishra, D., & Madhav, C. (2019, Mar 22). Byju's value at $5.4bn via new
$25m round. Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/byjus-value-at-5-4bn-via-new-25m-round/
articleshow/68517172.cms?from=mdr
Nair, R. (2017). Byju's looking at regional languages and international markets
for growth. Retrieved from https://bestmediainfo.com/2017/11/byju-
s-looking-at-regional-languages-and-international-markets-for-growth/
Russell, J. (2018). Byju's target global expansion for its digital education ser-
vice after raising $540M. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/
2018/12/17/byjus-raises-540-million/
Soni, S. (2018, Mar 14). Decoding Byju's journey from start-up to unicorn.
Entrepreneur India. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/
article/310403
Suman, D., Tripathy, S., & Rahman, A. (2019). The liquidity problem: A case
of Café coffee day enterprise. Journal of Advanced Research in Dynami-
cal and Control Systems, 11(8), 2209–2214.
Thomas, A. (2016, July 28). Overseas expansion, acquisition on Byju's
Raveendran's mind. The economics times. Retrieved from https://
economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/overseas-expansion-
acquisition-on-byju-raveendrans-mind/articleshow/53392426.cms
Venkatesh, G. (2018, May 29). Parent connect app will tract the child's learn-
ing journey, says Byju's CEO. Business line. Retrieved from https://www.
thehindubusinessline.com/news/education/parent-connect-app-will-
track-the-childs-learning-journey-says-byjus-ceo/article9715336.ece
Vignesh, J. (2017, July 03). Byju's acquires tutor vista, Edurite from Pearson.
The economics times. Retrieved from https://economictimes.india
times.com/small-biz/startups/byjus-acquires-tutorvista-and-edurite/
articleshow/59427281.cms?from=mdr
Warrier, S. (2018). 2 lack to 3,300 crore: The BYJU's classes success story.
Retrieved from https://www.rediff.com/money/interview/two-lakh-
to-330-crore-the-byjus-classes-success-story/20161007.htm
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Sasikanta Tripathy is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator for
the Department of Business Administration of SRM University-AP,
Amaravati, India. He received his Ph.D. in Finance (received MHRD
Fellowship) from Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM) of
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in August 2014 and
M.Phil. from Berhampur University in 2006. He has more than 10
years of rich teaching experience in the area of Finance and
Accounting. Prior to Joining SRM University-AP, he was working in
the department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management of
NIT Jamshedpur. His teaching and research interests lie in Corpo-
rate Finance, Business Valuation and Reporting, International Finan-
cial Market and Financial Econometrics.
Suman Devarapalli is a Full time Research Scholar in the depart-
ment of Business Administration of SRM University-AP. His
research area include Business Valuation and Reporting, Corpo-
rate Finance. He is an MBA (Finance) and UGC-NET qualified
scholar. He has sound number of publications to his credit.
How to cite this article: Tripathy S, Devarapalli S. Emerging
trend set by a start-ups on Indian online education system: A
case of Byju's. J Public Affairs. 2021;21:e2128. https://doi.org/
10.1002/pa.2128