Singapore education firm to invest $24 million in India

BANGALORE - Singapore-based Raffles Education Corporation Ltd (REC) will invest $24 million (Rs.107 crore) to expand its operations in India to offer design skills in multiple sectors, a top company official said Monday.

As part of its expansion, the company will set up five more design colleges across the country in Chandigarh, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad this year.

In a joint venture with the New Delhi-based technology driven education firm Educomp Solutions Ltd, REC opened three design colleges in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai in 2009.

“In the long term, we are planning to operate about 20 colleges in India keeping in view the growing demand for design skills in fashion, interiors, graphics, multimedia, animation and jewellery,” Raffles chief executive Chew Hua Seng told reporters here.

With foreign faculty, high-end technology and quality infrastructure, REC offers one-year and two-year diploma courses and three-year degree programme. Fee for degree course is Rs.1.5 million (Rs.15 lakh).

“We expect to break-even in three years, with an in-take of 100 students in each college and return on investment in five years,” Chew said.

The changing demographic profile of India has encouraged REC to invest in future and meet the demand for design skills in diverse sectors in commensurate with the growth of the manufacturing sector in the country.

“Though Asian countries have been focusing more on manufacturing, the trend is changing, with design becoming central to economic growth in terms of employment opportunities,” Chew pointed out.

The 20-year-old REC operates 34 colleges in 31 cities in 12 countries across the Asia-Pacific region.

Listed on the Singapore stock exchange, REC posted revenue of $145 million (202 million Singapore dollars) in fiscal 2009 but net profit declined by 48 percent year-on-year to $37.4 million due to bad debt, higher taxes and increased personnel and set-up costs.