"We are all set to launch an education portal, Shiksha, in the next two-three weeks," Info Edge (India)'s chief operations officer (COO) and director Hitesh Oberoi told PTI.
The company plans to invest $5-10 million in the project over a period of three years, Oberoi said. Info Edge already has portals like naukri.com, jeevansathi.com and 99acres.com.
Shiksha would offer information about educational institutes in the country as well as overseas, he added. "The portal will have the entire gamut of information on education, ranging from the name of a college, the courses offered, course content to the fee structure."
Oberoi said instead of targeting the entire education market which is very huge, it would focus on advertisement which is a great source of revenue.
"Education market is very huge and so we are not targeting the entire education market. Our focus will be on advertisements as it is the biggest revenue-generator for any application. For print especially, it is the number one revenue-generator," he said.
Oberoi said the company has identified 5-6 segments on which it intends to focus. "There are 5-6 segments like vocational training, professional courses, overseas education, coaching classes or MBAs, IIT-JEEs which are big. Besides, there are several government colleges and universities and private players providing these courses," he said.
Shiksha would provide a space wherein the education provider and seeker would both be mutually benefited. "We will provide a platform both for the education provider and seeker. The providers will be able to feature their entire content while the seekers will get solutions for their requirements," he said.
The education seeker could also ask any information from experts through this portal, Oberoi said. Info Edge will not charge any college for listing the latter's basic information but will charge for uploading campus photos and videos.
"Listing of basic information by any college will be free of cost but if it wants to have some branding option like campus photos or videos, then they will be charged," Oberoi said.
Info Edge clocked a turnover of Rs 240 crore (Rs 2.4 billion) and a profit after tax of Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million) in FY08.
