TechProcess to treble transactions from edu sector in FY17

Riding on the proliferation of high-charging private universities, e-payments platform TechProcess on June 22 said it is targeting to more than triple the gross transaction value (GTV) from educational institutions to Rs 500 crore in 2016-17.

"We are expecting acquisition of around 2,000 educational institutes and notch up a GTV of Rs 500 crore this financial year," TechProcess chief executive Kumar Karpe said in a statement.

In 2015-16, the country's second biggest e-payments platform had notched a GTV of Rs 140 crore from the education sector, which is seeing a proliferation of private, for-profit campuses amid favourable demographics in one of the youngest countries in the world.

The company said it has launched a dedicated platform for processing payments for the education sector, which it expects to touch USD 100 billion by 2020.

The company, however, did not mention how many 'merchants' or educational institutions it is currently working for.

It said the government's digital push will also make the merchants or varsities invest in digital payments platforms.

It can be noted that the last few years have witnessed the mushrooming of a slew of institutions offering higher education courses in the private sector, and the fees are much higher than those charged by the traditional, aided universities.

The central bank also has been repeatedly pointing to the inflation in the services sector, coming primarily from the education and the healthcare sectors, where the advent of the private sector providers has resulted in increase in spends by people.