New Delhi: It’s no longer just the washing machines, smart TVs, refrigerators, grand sale bonanzas and dream destinations that are filling up full-page newspaper advertisements.
Every UPSC exam season, full-page newspaper advertisements by coaching institutes are crammed with mug shots of toppers and IAS officer faculty, promising most students the Great Indian Dream – to be a civil servant. The city hoardings are also screaming out the names of these hyper achievers and top scorers. In the past decade, the dizzying number of UPSC coaching institutes have gone through the roof – from Unacademy to IAS Next to StudyIQ.
When 22-year-old Sonia Dahiya from Haryana began looking for a coaching institute for her childhood UPSC dream, she was overwhelmed with the smorgasbord of choices.
“All that advertising is making me confused. From newspapers to social media, there are a lot of ads for such institutes which makes it very difficult to choose,” says Dahiya. She saved Rs 1.30 lakh from part-time jobs she took up during college holidays while her friends were enjoying their break. Choosing the perfect coaching institute was one of the biggest decisions she had to make. “I didn’t want to waste the money,” she said.
Dahiya finally selected an institute in Delhi, and fought with her parents to study in the capital city. But they have given her only two years to realise her dream. “If I don’t make it, I will have to go back home to Haryana.”
There is a new hot market war in India, and it is among the UPSC coaching institutes. As more and more coaching centres join this Rs 3,000 crore hyper-competitive industry which enlists 11 lakh Indians every year, aggressive and innovative strategies in advertising, branding, pricing and recruiting of IAS officers are now par for the course.
Every time the results come out, the coaching institutes make a beeline to lap them up. They are offered rewards to endorse the institute or talk to their students. They also get into such a competitive tizzy immediately to claim that top scorer is from their institute – even if they have just had a fleeting encounter with them before.
“Learn from India’s top faculty,” screams one institute’s full-page ad in a national daily with mugshots of toppers. The ad boasts that 14 of the top 20 rankers were associated with the coaching institute. Not to be outdone, an ad by Forum IAS cautions: “There are several ways to become an IAS officer. Choose wisely’. They not only highlight toppers’ photos but also mention the course the toppers opted for.
Also read: Selling land, borrowing money, eating less: What UPSC coaching does to poor families
This is carried forward on social media as well. StudyIQ’s Instagram account is peppered with similar congratulatory posts all prominently pinned on the grid. From motivational quotes to current affair content, institutes and their students live and breathe the UPSC examination. NEXT IAS, for example, shares quizzes, news and course information all snazzily packaged for a reel-consuming generation of IAS aspirants. One reel delves into why political parties are not under RTI, while another gets one of its toppers to give a motivational speech and exhort students on the importance of “mental toughness”.
“The competition between institutes is good for the student, it’s good that everyone wants to provide better services and better courses. If one institute is providing something, the other institutes would want to provide better,” says Mohit Jindal, Co-founder of StudyIQ, an online coaching platform.
“In this whole situation, it is the student who will benefit from a better education,” he added.
But the coaching institutes don’t just depend on the advertisements. It’s the counselling sessions where most of the recruitment happens.
“We do the advertisement in newspapers and take out hoardings, but they are not our source for enrollment” explains B. Singh, founder and CMD of Next IAS. Instead, the institute relies on its counselling sessions in IITs, NSITs and Delhi University colleges to boost admission numbers. “We clear doubts of students which are appreciated by aspiring students.”
Drishti, which is one of the biggest institutes in the UPSC coaching market, is known for the quality of its Hindi- and English-medium classes. After 24 years in the industry, it relies on its brand name to draw in people. Its biggest marketing tactic is ‘word of mouth’. “Our core philosophy for marketing is word of mouth. The hoarding and newspaper ads are only for information, but the real marketing is from the selected students and this is the most effective way,” says Gaurav Bana.
While on-ground events and sessions are the hunting ground for competing coaching centres, ads, hoardings and social media are important to keep the brand buzzing.
Last month, at the grand felicitation ceremony of UPSC CSE 2022 toppers, Next IAS rolled out another batch for its Hindi-medium students. New enrollees were called on to the stage as well—all part of the coaching centre’s big marketing strategy. It was attended by former Delhi police commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi who was also a member of UPSC till 2021 and is now chief advisor to NextIAS.
Coaching institutes compete to hitch their star to students who made the cut in the UPSC selection process. Right after the result when Moin Ahmed learned that he got the All India Rank 296, the calls started coming in. Coaching institutes wanted him to give talks to their students, and he became a celebrity overnight. He even attended one event in Bengaluru where he was put up at a luxury resort. It’s a surreal experience for Ahmed, whose father is a bus conductor from Moradabad.
“It was like I got five-star treatment and not only this, I have been getting so many phone calls from the institutes about the talks and lectures. Sometimes I say no,” says Ahmed , who is currently training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.
Muktendra from Bijor, who is now ‘IRS sahab’ had the exact same experience when he made the cut. “My phone was ringing for a week after the result. Some of the coaching institutes were inviting me to give talks, and some asked for guidance,” said Muktendra.
Singh distinguishes coaching institutes from the ubiquitous edtech platforms.
“Ed. tech is the one who is more focused on marketing and branding, they think branding is everything but we don’t work like that,” says B Singh, adding that those who focus on improving course content, teaching quality and results will survive.
Also read: UPSC toppers are a catch for all. And coaching centres want their photos, consent…
Poaching is a problem
In Delhi alone, hundreds of institutes have cropped up from the wide roads of Karol Bagh to the narrow lanes of Mukherjee Nagar. Supplementary businesses like stationery shops, bookstores, libraries, hostels, cheap eateries and paying guest accommodations thrive in these areas. All cater to the thousands upon thousands of students who arrive every year in the pursuit of success. Neighbourhoods in cities across India including Jaipur, Pune, Kolkata and Patna have been transformed in a similar manner and attract students who can’t afford to study and live in the national capital.
Here, it’s not SRK, Alia Bhat or Ranvir Singh who are idolised but Avadh Ojha sir, Shubhra Ranjan ma’am and Khan sir—teachers who tutored many serving bureaucrats. Teachers are such hot properties that they keep hopping from one coaching centre to the other for better offers.
“Recently I got an offer almost double of what I am earning right now. They are aggressively poaching faculty members,” says a faculty member of a renowned coaching institute in Delhi on the condition of anonymity.
The owners of these institutes are well aware of the pervasiveness of this ‘brain theft culture’. “Poaching is very normal here and we cannot match the big institutes in terms of money but we give our teachers a great environment for working here,” says Jindal.
Some of the more sought after ‘stars’ are Alakh Pandey of Physics Wallah who launched its UPSC vertical recently, Vikas Divyakirti from Drishti, and StudyIQ’s Amit Kilhor and Shashank Tyagi. They are influencers with lakhs of followers listening to their every word. Many find it in their interest to remain at one institute in the hope of becoming its face. If that happens, they wield a lot of power.
“We do not believe in making a person a star, we invest in all our faculty, we believe that when our faculty will grow, our organisation will grow too,” says Jindal.
Renowned coaching institute Drishti hires teachers by a very strict process. “We reach out to them through Linkedin or from the application we got. All the candidates had been an aspirant and given the UPSC Mains or Interview, we follow a very strict and standard practise,” says Gaurav Bana, vice-president Drishti.
The learning process is supplemented across all social media — be it on Telegram and WhatsApp groups, or YouTube channels, websites with free study material and Instagram. Some institutes such as Next IAS and Vision IAS are well-known for their course materials, while others such as StudyIQ and Unacademy are known for their instructional videos posted on YouTube.
When the UPSC CSE (Civil Services Exam) 2022 results were announced, 54 candidates were from the Hindi medium and Drishti claims all the toppers were its students.
“They were associated with Drishti and when they will talk about UPSC they will mention Drishti. That is the biggest branding we could do,” Bana added.
NextIAS’ UPS is its study material. “We see enrollments rise when the selected student recommends us to the other students,” says Singh. He’s proud of the study material that NextIAS offers. “Our team spent a lot of time researching and preparing it,” he adds.
On the other hand, StudyIQ relies on its YouTube platform which has more than 14 million subscribers. It invests its resources into producing informative videos on current affairs and trending news, which is proving to be popular among aspirants.
“YouTube channels are the most organic way to interact with students and keep them hanging with ourselves. We are focusing on growing our YouTube presence and generating more and more content for students,” says Jindal.
Beyond the IAS dream
A new ingredient in their branding is the philanthropic work they do for some students.
Now, some of the institutes have started offering need-based scholarships and sponsoring students who have cleared the UPSC Preliminary exam. Drishti in Mukherjee Nagar has been training almost 400 scholarship students for the UPSC Mains.
“We bear the expenses of their accommodation, food and coaching. We provide them with a library and provide them the best training they could get, free of cost,” says Bana. Most of the students are from marginalised communities and poor families who can otherwise not afford to invest in their education. StudyIQ is also sponsoring a hundred students, who have cleared Prelims.
Managements see it as a win-win situation — students get an opportunity for rigorous coaching while the institute will reap its rewards through word-of-mouth when they become IAS officers.
Coaching institutes also see it as an opportunity to expand their student base to tap into potential enrollments from small-town India. Many have started experimenting with cheaper courses and EMI payment options to attract aspirants. It’s not only those who want to be an IAS officer but also those who want something more from their careers. Not everyone clears the UPSC exam, but the preparation itself helps them hone their critical and analytical skills, which in turn holds them in good stead as they explore other career paths. The marketing spiel almost always includes this point — that they would have gained additional skills and knowledge.
But for Dahiya, this is not just training or life skills. Becoming an IAS officer is her life’s goal, else marriage awaits her, which she doesn’t want right now.
“We are not saying that you can become an IAS officer, but we are saying you can get the training. And by saying this, I am reaching out to those as well who are not thinking of becoming an officer,” says Jindal.
The UPSC ecosystem is all pervasive — from large classrooms to 30-second shorts. YouTube videos and Instagram reels highlight motivational talks. In one reel by OnlyIAS, students whoop and clap as the teacher walks on the stage.
“Tu hi tera astra hai, tu hi tera shashtra hai (you are your own weapon and armour),” the teacher says over the background music.
The comments section fills up quickly.
“Sir Patna me bhi kholiye (Sir please open in Patna too),” writes one aspirant.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)