PhysicsWallah IPO: Can Alakh Pandey deliver a new chapter for Indian edtech?
PhysicsWallah’s IPO comes as a rare bright spot for edtech. With revenues nearing Rs 3,000 crore but losses persisting, its offline gamble and rising student dropouts could decide investor sentiment.
- Sep 10, 2025,
- Updated Sep 10, 2025 8:15 PM IST
All eyes are on PhysicsWallah (PW). And why not? The company is set to become the first homegrown edtech player to make its stock market debut—at a time when the sector is still reeling from the fall of its former poster child, Byju’s.
From a humble YouTube channel to Dalal Street, the journey of co-founders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari has been anything but easy. Pandey, who began uploading free physics tutorials in 2016, has built PW into a business with revenues touching nearly Rs 3,000 crore in FY25.
What began as a pure online play, for which the “edtech” was known, has now evolved into a hybrid model, with offline centres—branded as Vidyapeeth, Pathshala, and others—driving nearly half of PhysicsWallah’s revenues. In FY25, online courses contributed Rs 1,404 crore, accounting for about 49 per cent of income by reaching millions of students at affordable price points. Offline and hybrid centres brought in Rs 1,352 crore, or 47 per cent of revenue, through higher-priced classroom batches and residential programmes. The remaining share came from content licensing, book sales, and other ancillary services.
Despite the impressive scale-up, PW’s bottom line remains in the red. The company reported a net loss of Rs 244 crore in FY25, narrower than the steep Rs 1,131 crore loss in FY24, but still wider than the Rs 84 crore deficit in FY23. The drag largely stems from its aggressive offline expansion, with centres rising from 126 in FY24 to 198 in FY25—an investment-heavy bet that will take time to turn profitable.
Yet, optimism runs high among investors. After the massive value erosion at Byju’s, the market is looking at PW as a chance to restore confidence in India’s edtech story. “There’s no other edtech player of scale showing positive momentum,” says an analyst. “That alone gives PW strong sentiment support.”
However, not all is smooth sailing. The company’s draft prospectus flags concerns around student retention. Dropouts have been climbing steadily: around 46,019 in FY25, up from 29,137 in FY24 and just 7,993 in FY23, raising questions about future enrolment growth and profitability.
As PW prepares for its IPO, the question is whether Alakh Pandey can script a turnaround for Indian edtech or whether the offline gamble will weigh heavily before it pays off.
All eyes are on PhysicsWallah (PW). And why not? The company is set to become the first homegrown edtech player to make its stock market debut—at a time when the sector is still reeling from the fall of its former poster child, Byju’s.
From a humble YouTube channel to Dalal Street, the journey of co-founders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari has been anything but easy. Pandey, who began uploading free physics tutorials in 2016, has built PW into a business with revenues touching nearly Rs 3,000 crore in FY25.
What began as a pure online play, for which the “edtech” was known, has now evolved into a hybrid model, with offline centres—branded as Vidyapeeth, Pathshala, and others—driving nearly half of PhysicsWallah’s revenues. In FY25, online courses contributed Rs 1,404 crore, accounting for about 49 per cent of income by reaching millions of students at affordable price points. Offline and hybrid centres brought in Rs 1,352 crore, or 47 per cent of revenue, through higher-priced classroom batches and residential programmes. The remaining share came from content licensing, book sales, and other ancillary services.
Despite the impressive scale-up, PW’s bottom line remains in the red. The company reported a net loss of Rs 244 crore in FY25, narrower than the steep Rs 1,131 crore loss in FY24, but still wider than the Rs 84 crore deficit in FY23. The drag largely stems from its aggressive offline expansion, with centres rising from 126 in FY24 to 198 in FY25—an investment-heavy bet that will take time to turn profitable.
Yet, optimism runs high among investors. After the massive value erosion at Byju’s, the market is looking at PW as a chance to restore confidence in India’s edtech story. “There’s no other edtech player of scale showing positive momentum,” says an analyst. “That alone gives PW strong sentiment support.”
However, not all is smooth sailing. The company’s draft prospectus flags concerns around student retention. Dropouts have been climbing steadily: around 46,019 in FY25, up from 29,137 in FY24 and just 7,993 in FY23, raising questions about future enrolment growth and profitability.
As PW prepares for its IPO, the question is whether Alakh Pandey can script a turnaround for Indian edtech or whether the offline gamble will weigh heavily before it pays off.