🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Allen’s profit slide stems from a structural shift

• Net profit dropped about 70% to Rs 41 crore in FY25 while revenue was Rs 3,307 crore 1. Kota’s share slid from about 36% to 25% as Allen opened 300+ centres across 70 cities 1.
• Allen stayed profitable while moving faculty from Kota to new sites, and headcount rose from about 5,000 to 7,000 over three years 1. PhysicsWallah, which is IPO-bound, posted Rs 2,886 crore in revenue and a Rs 243 crore loss in FY25 1.
• About 75% of revenue now comes from outside Kota, so per-student costs likely run higher in newer cities with lower density 1. FY25 enrolments included roughly 90,000 in Kota and around 350,000 across offline centres 1.
• Allen Digital counts about 1 million active users, with roughly half paying 1. Allen raised $600 million from Bodhi Tree Systems in 2022 and launched the online arm that year 1.

Vendors can target Allen’s 70-city expansion as rivals choose other paths

• Education infrastructure vendors can target 300+ centres 1. This spans Learning Management System (LMS) platforms and proctoring tools 1. Student housing providers plus vernacular (local-language) content creators can focus on Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, and Patna 1.
• PhysicsWallah has laid out growth plans in its filings 2. Its Rs 460.55 crore IPO allocation targets Tier II/III markets (smaller cities beyond major metros) 2. The list includes Muzaffarpur, Dhanbad, and Akola 2. It also covers Latur, Rajkot, and Ujjain 2. Bhatinda and Jorhat are in scope as well 2. It has 198 centres across 109 locations as of March 2025 2.
• Payment providers and leasing firms can expect demand 3. PhysicsWallah’s lease rentals rose 47% to Rs 141 crore in FY25. Offline Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) hit Rs 40,404 versus online at Rs 3,682, so centres need higher-end services 3.
• Allen hired former Zomato (Indian food delivery company) executive Rakesh Ranjan, who led the platform’s core food delivery operations, to run its online arm and push AI-enabled learning tools 4. PhysicsWallah uses data from its online student base to spot demand clusters for centre placement 2.