Britain's posh schools are heading to India for students and profits
Britain's posh schools are heading to India for students and profits
Nikhil Inamdar - MumbaiFri, October 23, 2026 at 11:02 PM UTC
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At Harrow's Bengaluru campus, students wear the traditional Harrow hats and uniforms
On the outskirts of Chandigarh city in India's north-western Punjab state, a 473-year-old legacy British public school opened its first all-girls international campus earlier this year.
In contrast to the prominent Gothic-style central building on the school grounds in Bedfordshire, England, the Indian premises are more modern, with purpose-built academic blocks. But a conspicuous red-brick clock tower bears the imprint of the school's British heritage.
The Bedford School, Mohali, is the newest in at least half a dozen British public schools (elite, fee-paying private schools with a long history), including three of the country's oldest, that have set up shop across the length and breadth of India. Their expansion comes amid tighter market conditions in China and the introduction of VAT on private school fees in Britain from 1 January 2025.
Since 2023, Bengaluru - India's Silicon Valley and a hub of software and start-up companies - has been home to the prestigious Harrow School, alma mater of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Shrewsbury School has a campus in Bhopal in central India, while Wellington College has chosen to set up base in Pune, a western city that calls itself the "Oxford of the East" for its well-regarded universities and colleges.
Millfield, Queen Elizabeth's School and a few others are reportedly on their way with satellite campuses in the coming years.
For decades, India has been home to well-established local boarding schools modelled on the colonial British public-school system, serving elite, aristocratic families. But this market has rapidly expanded with newly wealthy Indian families increasingly aspiring to give their children more global exposure.
"Our international curriculum is quite a driver for many of them," Caroline Pascoe, head of school at Harrow in Bengaluru, told the BBC.
Harrow and Bedford are among the few schools in India that follow an all-through Cambridge curriculum - a global education framework recognised at 10,000 schools worldwide - from primary through to A-levels.
Bedford School is the latest in at least half a dozen British public schools that have entered India
Harsimran Singh Kocchar, whose own extended family runs a chain of schools across India, says he decided to send his five-year old daughter Parineet to Bedford Mohali because of the "holistic focus of the school on character development, confidence and not merely academics".
He said he was also drawn to the fact the school did not have a "VIP culture" unlike many Indian equivalents.
"All kids are treated the same. Children of ministers and bureaucrats don't get greater privileges," said Singh.
Beyond the growing ranks of well-heeled local families, non-resident Indians who have either returned home after long stints abroad, or those still in the UK or Middle East wanting their children to connect to their roots, are also a significant market for these schools, says Pascoe.
Sixty per cent of Harrow's staff in Bengaluru are international and, like the others, it has imported its unique traditions to its Bengaluru campus: teachers are called Beaks, and students wear the traditional Harrow hats and uniform and take part in The Long Ducker - a cross-country race that happens across its schools globally. There is also a house system - a hallmark of traditional British education.
These quintessentially parochial quirks are blended with local customs such as singing the Indian national anthem every morning or celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, a major Hindu festival.
Schools such as Harrow in Bengaluru promote extracurricular activities like music and drama
While India's growing economic credentials and burgeoning population of newly minted millionaires are a natural tailwind for expansion, this growth is partly being driven by a slowdown in China.
Much of the expansion of British public schools abroad in the past decade was driven by China and Hong Kong - half of the 151 satellite campuses operated by 50 UK schools are situated in these countries.
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But that growth has slowed following changes in regulation, and "increased scrutiny, and even resistance, from national governments", according to a 2025 study by the UK-based Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF) think tank.
A new 2024 Chinese law that required schools to integrate patriotic education into all subjects further challenged expansion and even led to planned campuses being cancelled, prompting these schools to consider other locations like India and Vietnam, according to PEPF.
Moreover, in the 2024 Autumn Budget, Britain introduced a 20% VAT on private school fees. Naomi Atkins, founding principal at Bedford School Mohali, says this has forced many private schools to look overseas.
"They are in a desperate situation. Even those that hadn't previously looked for international expansion are now suddenly active in India," she told the BBC.
Well-heeled local families and non-resident Indians are a major target market for British schools in India
But India has not been an easy market, she admits.
Most of these schools are set up in partnership with local investors or operators.
While in the past schools in other countries might have been able to do deals at 10% of revenue - the fee that they would charge the local partner-investor - margins in India may have shrunk to as low as 1% in some cases, says Atikins.
There has also been some over-estimation of the size of the market, she says.
Even though India has nearly 250 million children enrolled in schools, English education is deeply entrenched in the country and competition from local players is much more intense compared with other non-English speaking countries like China, Korea or Vietnam.
India's per capita income is also far lower and the high price-points of the British schools - which can charge up to £15,000 or more for full boarding - can limit growth.
"I've worked in Indonesia, Malaysia and China but Indians are much more price-sensitive - they like a bargain," says Atkins.
That is why Bedford Mohali has set its fees at roughly half those charged by other British schools.
Between 2011-12 and 2022-23, the satellite campuses of British schools generated £152.4m in profit, according to PEPF, and this profit has grown substantially over the years.
But in India, it appears growth is likely to be slow and steady rather than explosive.
The country's old colonial roots and new money afford the legacy institutions a significant business opportunity, but it is unlikely to be big enough to offset the loss of the Chinese market, at least immediately.
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Source: “AOL Money”
