Education institutions to benefit from rising enrolments, fee hikes: Crisil Ratings

13 Jan 2026 Evaluate

The education sector is poised to sustain strong revenue growth, as rating agency, Crisil Ratings in its latest report has showed that educational institutions are expected to record an 11-13% increase in total income in both the current fiscal year and the next, on account of rising enrolments and fee hikes across segments. The current fiscal year will mark the sector’s fifth straight year of double-digit growth, majorly driven by higher spending on education by households as incomes improve.

According to the report, rising enrolments are likely to push institutions to invest in capacity expansion and infrastructure. However, credit profiles will remain stable as strong cash flows will limit reliance on external debt, while operating margin will be steady at 27-28% as these institutions will incur higher staff salaries and other related costs. Crisil Ratings further noted that the K-12 segment, accounting for a third of the sector’s revenues, is expected to grow at a steady rate of 9-10%, supported by increasing urbanisation and affordability, along with annual fee revisions at private schools. 

In the higher education segment (also accounting for one third of the sectoral revenues), the enrolment growth rate for arts, science, commerce and diploma courses that account for the bulk of higher education intake remains moderate at 3-4%. However, the agency expects engineering courses to continue to log healthy demand, resulting in higher growth in total income. This is despite some turbulence in the job market amid the global slowdown and issues related to visas and immigration restrictions in the US.

The report further stated that in medical education, demand for undergraduate MBBS course has continued to surpass supply, even as other courses on nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, etc, witness moderate demand. The government’s thrust on increasing the number of undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats and augmenting education infrastructure will drive enrolments for medical courses in the near term.

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