New Delhi: Every WhatsApp message about FIITJEE Noida centre to his daughter was bad news for Rajendra Kumar. First, the salaries of teachers were delayed. This affected the classes. Then the cafeteria closed. The water taps ran dry. Finally, his phone pinged with the shocker. The centre had shut down.
The billboards in Noida continue to boast about FIITJEE toppers and success rate, but the coaching institute itself has vanished — with teachers, guards, cleaning staff. It was these billboards that fuelled Kumar’s dream of sending his daughter to IIT. The centre had around 500 students attached to it and had been operational since 2008. It had a staff strength of around 150 people.
Kumar is among thousands of such parents across Delhi-NCR, Bhopal, Patna, and Varanasi, who were drawn in by FIITJEE’s success stories. They had invested their hard-earned money in a reputed institute that has dominated the engineering entrance exam landscape in India for over two decades. But now, that trust stands broken.
FIITJEE made its humble beginnings in Delhi’s Kalu Sarai and with an IITian’s brain to help students crack India’s most prestigious exam that would open the gates of the IITs. Now, this empire with a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore is crumbling with a spate of FIRs being filed against it across cities, and staff alleging non-payment of salaries. As for the students already reeling under the pressure of Board exams, their centres shutting is nothing short of a nightmare. FIITJEE’s fall is a worrying sign for India’s multimillion-dollar coaching industry, which remains largely unregulated and in constant flux. The overheated coaching industry in India relies heavily on advertising blitzkrieg, hefty fee structure and a limited pool of talented teachers who can often make or break a business.
ThePrint reached out to FIITJEE management over calls and mail for this report but didn’t receive any response.
However, in its statement released in January, FIITJEE reiterated its commitment to academic excellence. “Our legacy of producing top results in JEE Main, JEE Advanced, NTSE, and Olympiads over the last 28 years remains unparalleled. Students join FIITJEE for its systems and legacy, not individual teachers.”
It was only in June last year that Kumar, a Noida resident, enrolled his daughter—studying in class XI—into FIITJEE’s two-year basic course at the institute’s Greater Noida centre.
“There was no prior information or notice. Just received a message on WhatsApp from the teachers who said they won’t be conducting the classes at the centre because of their delayed salaries,” said Kumar, a professor at Sharda University.
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The heydays
Established in 1992 by IIT Delhi Mechanical Engineer DK Goel, FIITJEE catalysed the coaching scene in Kalu Sarai area, which ultimately turned into a study hub.
In Kalu Sarai, FIITJEE has around 10 offices, including corporate spaces, book godowns, and faculty offices—but most of them stand empty today. The senior management hasn’t come in for the past month, operating remotely instead. On a busy Monday afternoon, only 10-12 employees were present in an office designed to accommodate over 100 people.
“Only seven centres have shut down. The rest are still operational, and we have to keep working for them. Senior management is focused on fixing the issues at the affected centres. This was a conspiracy against the institute,” said a member of the accounts team at FIITJEE’s Kalu Sarai office. FIITJEE has around 74 centres spread across India.
Thirty-four-year-old Amit Singh attended FIITJEE’s Patna centre in 2008. Located in the bustling coaching hub of the state capital and holding prime real estate, the institute was the go-to place for those aiming to enter India’s premier engineering colleges. Singh credited FIITJEE for his selection at an engineering college in Bengaluru.
There were around 400 students in Singh’s batch. The teaching quality was top-notch. And being the only big centre in the region, it attracted students from Jharkhand, West Bengal and even Arunachal Pradesh. The centre shut operations in January and all its teaching staff joined rival coaching institutes, asking students to move with them—a trend that has been witnessed at many FIITJEE centres that have shut recently.
“It used to be a very big thing in Patna. FIITJEE used to deliver the best results. The infrastructure was good and the teachers were great. They used PPTs to teach us. It’s due to that coaching that I cracked Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) and got into Bangalore Institute of Technology,” said Amit, who is currently working as vice president in Pune-based Tricon Infra Buildtech Pvt Ltd.
A teacher who worked at FIITJEE’s Gurugram centre for five years said things were stable before 2018. The institute offered lucrative contracts to faculty, requiring them to stay for at least three years before resigning. The contract was strict but because the working conditions were good, most teachers stayed on, some even planning to retire from the organisation.
I remember a time when the institute would double some teachers’ salaries during appraisals. Centre heads had limited authority, and most major decisions came from the corporate office located in Delhi.
Former FIITJEE faculty
The pressure of producing results and ensuring higher admission rates was lower and teachers’ focus was primarily on conducting classes. The concept of individual faculty chasing social media attention via online lectures was unknown.
“I remember a time when the institute would double some teachers’ salaries during appraisals. Centre heads had limited authority, and most major decisions came from the corporate office located in Delhi,” said the teacher mentioned above.
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A change in business model
The signs of trouble have been brewing inside the FIITJEE empire for some years now. But it became public in a big way in 2023 when an advertisement mocking a student who left for a rival institute sparked outrage. The ad was widely criticised as unethical and hinted at the institute’s growing insecurity amid rising competition.
The ad suggested that students who switch from FIITJEE to other institutes regret their decision. FIITJEE faced backlash for trying to shame students instead of focusing on academic excellence.
Multiple people ThePrint spoke to blamed the management and the owner for the failure. Once the undisputed leader of the market, the institute now struggles to provide answers to parents and teachers, instead blaming its shutdown on rival institutes.
“There were many things that went wrong with FIITJEE. The problems started in 2018 but the impact was masked when Covid hit. Then, in 2022, the offline coaching market boomed but FIITJEE struggled with intense poaching. With Physics Wallah entering the market, FIITJEE slashed its fees to attract students, but poor investments added to its troubles. The financial strain was evident in its meetings,” said Keshav Aggarwal, president of the Coaching Federation of India.
FIITJEE struggled to adapt to the rapid shift towards online education, lagging behind competitors who embraced digital platforms. This delay resulted in a substantial loss of students to more tech-savvy rivals. Additionally, FIITJEE’s financial management has come under scrutiny, with reports suggesting that funds were diverted to ventures unrelated to its core coaching business, leading to strained cash flows and operational disruptions.
The financial strain became evident as the company delayed salary payments, citing cash flow issues. The situation was exacerbated by high operational costs associated with maintaining large physical infrastructure, which became unsustainable amid declining enrollments.
The coaching behemoth also ventured into running two global schools and six world schools. And expanded into the online classes domain. But these new ventures didn’t turn out to be profitable, said a teacher formerly associated with the institute’s Noida centre. The load of salary payments fell on the centres running at full capacity.
For a set-up that is majorly offline, the pandemic made a huge impact on their revenue. FIITJEE, however, has maintained in emails sent to their employees two years ago, that their financial struggles were not solely due to Covid-19. It has cited the non-performance of most of its teams running the centres, which, according to the management, burdened the organisation with liabilities. According to them, underperforming centres contributed to overall losses, impacting their ability to process salaries and full and final settlements on time.
FIITJEE also introduced courses for medical aspirants in 2008—an arena dominated by the likes of Aakash. But its medical coaching business wasn’t able to replicate the success of engineering classes.
After 2019, the senior management handed over more power to the centre heads and some of them took the wrong decisions, allegedly filling their pockets first. This ultimately contributed to the closure of the centres, according to the teacher who worked at the now-defunct Noida centre.
After facing a big crisis (of losses at different centres and pressure of increasing the admissions), the institute held meetings in Delhi’s Hyatt Hotel a few months ago. It was booked for three days. They were spending all this money in five-star hotels to conduct review meetings about how to save money.
Former FIITJEE faculty
FIITJEE restructured its leadership, renaming centre heads as Managing Partners, with the idea of generating more profits. The new model secured 40 per cent of revenue coming out of a centre for the corporate office and left the rest into the hands of the Managing Partner. At the time, many centres were already running in losses.
In the old model, it was the corporate office that used to distribute the money between the centre heads and teachers.
“(In the new model) the fees of the students goes to the corporate office that cuts 40 per cent and gives the rest of the amount to the centre heads. This amount can be bigger than the actual expenses or less. Now it’s on the centre heads on how to spend it,” said the faculty formerly associated with the Gurugram centre.
The teacher said that the centre heads have the power to disburse variable salaries to the employees every month. A Talent Management System is applied to analyse the teachers’ performance and decide the amount. “The centre heads cut salaries to manage the budget. The TMS was just an excuse. The Managing Partner cut salaries of those whom they didn’t like,” alleged the teacher.
Apart from players with disruptive business models, faculty poaching is another factor that has weakened the FIITJEE empire. First, by its core competitor and legacy player ALLEN, then by edtech startups such as Physics Wallah. In the latest round of desertion from shut centres, many teachers have joined Aakash Institute.
“After facing a big crisis (of losses at different centres and pressure of increasing the admissions), the institute held meetings in Delhi’s Hyatt Hotel a few months ago. It was booked for three days. They were spending all this money in five-star hotels to conduct the review meetings about how to save money,” said the teacher quoted above.
FIITJEE has put the blame on Centre Managing Partners.
The institute emphasised that each centre operates independently under a profit-sharing model.
Whatever they said in that statement is a lie. We weren’t getting our salaries, so we had to resign. Aakash offered opportunities, and we had no choice but to take them. Some people had to accept lower salaries, while others remained at the same level. They (Aakash) also need to build their IIT-JEE vertical.
Former FIITJEE faculty
“Managing Partners have a profit-sharing model in addition to receiving a regular salary. They forced the corporate management to take control of all collections (by signing a document that made them managing partners), causing significant losses,” FIITJEE’s January statement read. “The company had to comply with their demands in the interests of the students.”
A Centre Managing Partner ThePrint spoke to called FIITJEE’s statement a lie.
“Whatever they said in that statement is a lie. We weren’t getting our salaries, so we had to resign. Aakash offered opportunities, and we had no choice but to take them. Some people had to accept lower salaries, while others remained at the same level. They (Aakash) also need to build their IIT-JEE vertical,” said the former centre head.
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Delayed salaries
During a virtual meeting of the FIITJEE administration in December last year, the chairman and founder Goel lost his temper after an employee questioned some investment decisions. All hell broke loose and the “chief mentor” Goel pounded the session with the choicest of abuses. This was supposedly a mentoring session.
Since then, hundreds of teachers have left various FIITJEE centres, citing salary delays and deductions. Teachers at now-defunct centres had been making such complaints for some time but the management, they alleged, didn’t address their concerns.
“In the last one year, we only received our salaries six times and that too with salary cuts, we were promised that things would get better. But recently those assurances also stopped. We realised that nothing will get better at this place and it’s better to leave,” said a teacher formerly associated with the institute’s Greater Noida centre.
“I resigned in 2021 and still not able to get my two lakh rupees from the institute,” said the teacher formerly associated with the Gurugram centre.
Another teacher, who did not wish to be named, resigned just two months ago from FIITJEE’s Gurugram centre, claiming his Rs 15 lakh were stuck with the institute and the management was neither replying to his mails, nor answering his calls. He wasn’t getting the salary on time and was reeling under debt. Now he is giving private tuition to survive.
We didn’t receive salaries and other dues for five months last year. Despite this, we never let it affect our classes. But managing family expenses became increasingly difficult, forcing us to collectively resign from FIITJEE and join Aakash Institute’s newly launched IIT JEE Advanced wing, INVICTUS-Advanced Engineering Program, in Gurugram. Here, both faculty and students will benefit.
Former FIITJEE faculty
FIITJEE failed to adapt to changing times, sticking to traditional chalkboards while competitors embraced digital learning, YouTube, and recorded classes. They ignored the booming NEET market, focusing almost entirely on JEE, except in South India.
Instead of addressing financial issues, the institute cut costs by hiring inexperienced teachers at lower salaries, leading to a decline in quality.
Several teachers who resigned broke their three-year contracts with FIITJEE, resulting in the loss of their security deposits—a portion of their basic salaries withheld as a penalty for early resignation.
“Instead of looking for job opportunities I am looking for a lawyer who can help me with this,” said the teacher quoted above.
FIITJEE’s contract had strict conditions—regardless of experience, all teachers had to undergo compulsory three-month training, allowing the institute to claim training costs and impose financial penalties if they left before three years. Resignations were only accepted in November, with a six-month notice period, effectively blocking teachers from switching jobs easily. Additionally, 30 per cent of their basic pay was deducted as a “sincerity amount” for three years, which many never received upon leaving, along with pending salaries and gratuity.
“If a teacher resigned outside the November window, their resignation was not accepted, forcing them to wait another three years for the next opportunity. Those who left before completing their contract often faced legal cases demanding Rs 20-40 lakh in damages for “violating” the terms,” said the teacher.
The contract also made appraisals unpredictable, with increments often delayed or denied without clear criteria. Many teachers reported that despite years of service, salary revisions were minimal, while newer hires were sometimes offered better packages, leading to dissatisfaction.
“This is a fraud worth hundreds of crores, but no one seems to be realising it,” alleged the former FIITJEE teacher from the Gurugram centre.
FIITJEE has said centres shutting down is part of a conspiracy against the institute.
“This entire story is part of a criminal conspiracy hatched by people with vested interests. The truth will emerge soon as detailed investigations are conducted.”
At the Gurugram centre that shut down in January, teachers resigned en masse before moving to rival Aakash Institute.
“We didn’t receive salaries and other dues for five months last year. Despite this, we never let it affect our classes. But managing family expenses became increasingly difficult, forcing us to collectively resign from FIITJEE and join Aakash Institute’s newly launched IIT JEE Advanced wing, INVICTUS-Advanced Engineering Program, in Gurugram. Here, both faculty and students will benefit,” said a teacher.
Beyond salary issues, teachers believe FIITJEE’s Centre Managing Partners (CMPs) failed to upgrade infrastructure, invest in digital learning, or expand into the NEET market. Outdated teaching methods persisted while faculty development and support were ignored, lowering morale.
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Anxious parents, widening probe
Students, teachers, and parents are caught between lawyers and police stations. Police in Ghaziabad, Noida, and Bhopal have lodged FIRs against FIITJEE. Cops in Greater Noida have seized over Rs 11.11 crore from 12 bank accounts. Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing is also investigating the matter after the Preet Vihar centre was shut down.
Parents across Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida have formed groups to raise their voices against the FIITJEE management. Rajendra Kumar is a member of two such groups—one with hundreds of concerned parents belonging to Noida and another, of parents whose wards attended the Greater Noida centre, which has around 60-70 members. However, over time, these groups have gone quiet, with only occasional news links being shared.
“A few days ago, Noida Police froze 11 bank accounts, holding transactions worth around Rs 11 crore but this didn’t help us. We want to know when we will get our money back,” said Kumar.
Manish Dagar’s son was enrolled in a foundation course at the FIITJEE centre in Gurugram. She was five months into the two-year course and had already shelled out Rs 4 lakh. Now he has paid another Rs 50,000 to get him enrolled at another institute.
“I just want to make sure my son’s education isn’t disrupted. This is a massive fraud worth hundreds of crores and needs to be investigated,” said Dagar.
Kumar’s daughter has also switched institutes, but many of her teachers remain the same. He also shelled out an additional Rs 25,000 to get her daughter admitted to another institute. He didn’t want to compromise his daughter’s IIT dream.
The FIITJEE website lists its guiding principles and value system. “We are 100% transparent and truthful. Our value system is uncompromised. In our company, children will imbibe good values and positive personality traits. We work ethically to inspire everyone who comes in touch with us.”
But Kumar is tense about her daughter’s future. “I feel cheated every day. The exam (IIT entrance test) won’t wait, so I had no choice but to go along with it.”
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)