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The Indian training market seems to have got its rhythm back this year, having gone downhill from 2001 through 2004. Last fiscal, the training market was worth Rs 2,135 crore, up 46% from FY 06 which saw a total turnover of Rs 1,453 crore, a 14% growth over the previous fiscal. Growth came mainly due to good business done by the two major playersNIIT and Aptechoverseas. We could soon see a repeat of the performance of 2000-01, when training touched Rs 2,594 crore.

Exports: Stellar Performance
Performing on expected lines, overseas operations once again managed to outperform itselfgoing from a 56% in FY 06 at Rs 436 crore to a 59% growth, with the exports market pegged at Rs 1,270 crore in FY 07. NIIT and Aptech, the two major players, managed to carve a niche for themselves overseas, especially in China.

Corporate training at 64% of the total training market, worth Rs 2,135 crore

Aptech and NIIT once again top IT trainers in China, with a combined 39.7% share of the market

Animation courses picked up in demand with MAAC adding 30 new centers in FY 07

The IT education retail market in China is set to grow between 17-19% annually by 2010, according to IDC India. But, what is important is that out of the top five players in the Chinese market, again according to IDC, the leading two are from India (NIIT and Aptech). The two Indian training majors made up for 39.7% of the Chinese training market with Aptech at #1 with 32.1% and NIIT at #2 with a 7.6% market share.

NIIT strengthened its position in China by introducing a gaming curriculum, and partnered with Sun Microsystems to train students on Java technologies. Keeping placements a priority, the company focused on building collaborations with both Indian and MNC IT companies operating in China. NIIT also expanded its network there to offer training at more than 150 locations across twenty-four provinces.

For FY 08, both players are placing their bets on the Latin American market, with Aptech already planning to ramp up its presence in several countries (it is already present in four). For NIIT, the focus will be to step up its presence in countries like Russia, Mexico, and South Africa where it is already operational.

Dubai was a booming market for the animation training companies as two of the major players, Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) and Arena Multimedia, opened shop there. While MAAC went independently, Arena tied-up with Jurassic Technologies LLC, a Dubai-based IT company, as its franchisee. MAAC also tied up with the University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) for validating MAACs flagship AD3D and PD3D programs.

On the other hand US-based Lionbridge Technologies expanded its Indian operations by adding space in its Mumbai and Chennai facilities, besides setting up an office in Bangalore. The move came in the wake of the increased demand for content development and localization services including technical writing, e-learning, and instructional design. The company is also looking to raise its headcount to 1,000 from the present 250 by the end of 2008.

Individual Training: Not Ok
Individual training paled in comparison to corporate training. The individual learning business continued to focus on providing skill-sets to people for the IT/ITeS industry. Fueled by the growth in hiring by this sector, the increasing requirement for newer skill-sets and the rapid changes in technology, this business witnessed robust growth. For improving the employability skills of fresh engineering graduates, NIIT launched a five-semester long courseIntegrated ANIIT for Engineers (IAE)positioned as an additional degree program for the engineering students to run parallel with their studies. The multiple track GNIIT and the Engineers for IT career aspirants, engineers, and IT graduates increased to drive company revenues with enrolments crossing 90,000 for the Engineers course. On an overall basis, NIIT enrolled over 310,000 students, with enrolments for the GNIIT program recording an increase of 112% y-o-y, while enrolments of students with an engineering background grew by 32% y-o-y. The focus for NIIT during FY 07 was increasing seat capacity by 18% y-o-y, and penetrating deeper into the tier-2 and tier-3 cities by adding more seats.

With hardware and networking courses constituting 30% of the IT training market, both NIIT and Aptech got into this segment with NIIT launching Network Labs, a dedicated curriculum for infrastructure management. Aptech formed an alliance with US-based Comptia for tapping the growth in this segment, and plans to roll out more than fifteen centers by the year-end. KarROX, engaged in providing high-end technology training in IT, BPO and mobile telephony industry also jumped in the fray by launching its MCTS-SQL Server 2005 training program in October.

Traditional hardware training players like CMS Institute, with strong presence in the west and south added around eighteen new training centers. It also tied up with Red Hat to offer Linux training through its infrastructure management program and introduced an IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) certification course. Jetkings most popular program, JCHNP Premium, saw a student intake of 25,000. The number is huge considering its overall student intake for FY 07 was 33,600.

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