Great Learning India nears Rs 400 Cr revenue in FY23, losses decline

Expense Breakdown

• Employee benefit expense

• Advertising promotional expenses

• Legal professional charges

• Information technology

• Collection charges

• Others

To check complete Expense Breakdown visit thekredible.comView full data

The 25% increase in scale and controlled expenditure helped the company reduce its losses by 27.7% to Rs 222 crore in FY23 from Rs 307 core in FY22. Its EBITDA margin improved to -51% during FY23. 

On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.57 to earn a rupee of operating revenue.

Caveat: We have excluded exceptional items worth Rs 121 crore while calculating the bottom line of Great Learning as they have no material impact.

Great Learning was one of the hottest acquisition deals in this space for which Byju’s spent $600 million. However, Byju's reportedly put Great Learning along with US-based Epic on sale to clear its debt. Just like it did with Great Learning, the Byju Raveendran-led company shelled out $500 million to acquire US-based Epic.

After much delay, Byju’s disclosed its revenue from core business in FY22 which saw a 2.3x growth to reach a total income of Rs 3,569 crore from Rs 1,552 crore in FY21. According to the company, it has also managed to reduce its EBITDA loss from Rs 2,406 crore in FY21 to Rs 2,253 crore in FY22. However, the firm is yet to file its audited financial statements for FY22 and FY23.

While the mistakes at Byju’s are too many to count, one thing on which no one should fault the parent firm of Great Learning is its focus on communicating size, and by default, survivability to its intended market. While it achieved this with its massive fund raises and valuations,  they certainly helped it gain traction and earn trust faster. The education sector values this, as noone wants to do a course, however good  if the institute that taught is not around to vindicate your choice in a few years. This is a factor that will come home to roost for many ‘students’ at edtechs that shone for a while before shutting down.  For Great Learning, this could be a factor that will matter a great deal, very soon.

While any numbers coming from the Byju stable will be taken with a sniff and a pinch of salt by many now, Great Learning  is clearly not out of the woods yet. The business model remains a work in progress, susceptible to multiple disruptions, not least of which is the issues at its promoter entity. The programs haven’t  quite earned the ringing endorsement of users as one would look for at a cursory check, and multiple options continue to emerge for prospective students. At less than $50 million, Great Learning hasn’t quite acquired the size that would ensure a long rope for it going ahead, if it doesn’t staunch those losses quickly. Enough reasons to believe that its moment of reckoning will come well before 2025.

Update: The post has been updated to change the name of the entity to Great Learning India.