Indian digital learning market reaches $2 billion

Driven by the growing demand for the skilled talent in the IT industry, the working professionals in India are increasingly looking to enhance their employability by up-skilling with online certification. Which means an urgent need for specialised training in emerging technologies like Big Data, Cloud Computing and Salesforce, Project Management, Mobile App Development and Digital Marketing, according to a report.

Leading global Ed-tech company Technopak and Simplilearn have jointly published a report named, "Technopak & Simplilearn Whitepaper on the Digital Learning Market in India", which highlights that the online professional education market globally is expected to exceed US$ 9 billion by 2020, growing at Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14 percent from 2016-2020.

The report also indicates emerging trends and forecasts the gamification of learning and simulation and the implementation of augmented and virtual reality in education.

Aurobindo Saxena, Vice President at Technopak Advisors, "Skilling is one of India's most critical needs today. However, given the pace of development, there's a growing realization that skill-set needs to be seen from the perspective of lifelong learning. Digital-Learning and online certifications open up a gamut of options for students looking to enter both traditional and non-traditional fields. It also makes learning more interactive, personalized and self-paced. Students get access to world-class content, faculty, pedagogy and certification - anytime, anywhere and at a much affordable cost."

According to Technopak's analysis, which covers India's most significant trends expected to impact the digital learning landscape, country's digital learning market is currently estimated at US$ 2 billion, growing at a CAGR of 30 percent and is expected to reach US$ 5.7 billion by 2020. The report also states that the global market size of simulation-driven learning is USD 4.4 billion.

This means, the increasing number of courses have a majority of people from India, which also has the second largest Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) user base after the US. Being affordable and accessible, MOOCs are helping address the quantity and quality education gaps in India by supporting traditional classrooms.

Currently, India has 462 million internet users with a penetration of 35 percent. This growth is driven by the adoption of the mobile internet, with 65 percent of internet traffic originating from mobile devices.

Technopak education analysts also highlighted the various factors that are contributing to the growth of the digital-learning market in India:

. Increasing integration of world economies

. Rise in Internet penetration in India

. Reduction in prices leading to rise in ownership of mobile devices

. Rising aspiration for world class education backed by willingness to pay for it

. Government focus and support

. Internet and digital penetration

The report also states the obstacle towards widespread adoption of this technology-driven learning. The most important one being, lack of content in regional languages.  Lasltly poor internet connectivity in smaller towns and semi-urban areas.

Through India's Digital India initiative, around 20+ new initiatives have already been launched to widen the scope of the Digital India Programme to include projects in the areas of digital infrastructure, digital empowerment, on-demand government services and promotion of industry with the aims of universal digital literacy and universally accessible digital resources.