Physicswallah's courses will continue to be priced below Rs 5,000: CEO Alakh Pandey

Alakh Pandey, CEO at Physics Wallah

All of edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah's (PW) courses will remain affordably priced below Rs 5,000 in 2026, said founder and CEO Alakh Pandey, quashing rumours of a potentially imminent price hike.

"All of PW's batches will continue to remain priced under Rs 5,000. I promise that, if the prices of PhysicsWallah's courses cross Rs 5,000, either PW won't exist, or I won't be part of PW," he emphasised while speaking to students at an event organised by PW in Kota.

Pandey was addressing recent reports, which alleged that the prices of PW's courses will increase from the current Rs 4,000-5,000 range to as much as Rs 15,000-20,000.

"As long as PW exists, courses will remain affordable. They will never reach Rs 15,000-20,000," Pandey said.

Reports of a price increase surfaced after the company reported a massive 13-fold increase in loss for FY24 at Rs 1,130 crore, from Rs 84 crore the previous fiscal due to increased spending on growth.

To be sure, the firm had reported a profit of Rs 9 crore in FY23 under the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) reporting standards. However, it later re-adjusted its financials and adopted the India accounting standards (IND AS) reporting standards from previous financial years, which also accounts for non-cash expenses like Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS).

The edtech major has been on an expansion spree ever since it raised a massive $210 million in series B funding in September last year. PW, alongside higher education and upskilling platform Eruditus, became the to only two edtech firms to have raised large ($100 million+) funding rounds of 2024.

Since its fundraise, which valued the company at $2.8 billion, PW has shortlisted four investment banks as advisors as it gears up for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2025. If its listing plans fructify, PW would become the first edtech company in India to be listed.

Despite the increase in FY24 losses, top management at the company is confident of the company’s long-term roadmap, targeting over 50 percent growth in FY25.

“FY25 is expected to be our highest absolute EBITDA year. While our online operations have been nearly 50 percent profitable from day one, our offline centres, which have required significant capital expenditure, will also start delivering results over time,” Pandey told Moneycontrol in an interview in September.

The company draws as much as 55 percent of its business from online channels, with the remaining coming from its offline Vidyapeeth centers. As of September last years, Pandey said that eight of its 11 offline regions were profitable.