EarlySalary partners Avanse for solution

New Delhi: Fintech firm EarlySalary on Thursday said it has partnered Avanse Financial Services to offer a school fee financing solution across 16 Indian cities. The solution, which will be offered through the EarlySalary app, will allow parents to get credit facility and EMI options on their child's school fee. These education loans can range from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3,00,000 and can be repaid in 3-6 months.

Akshay Mehrotra, co-founder and CEO of EarlySalary, said the cost of education has increased manifold and that the company's solution can help ease the burden on parents. "We understand that every parent would definitely want to give the best opportunities for studies to their kids. Hence, this tie-up is in sync with our vision of solving parents' common problem of managing their kids' school fees," he added.

The company aims to reach out to one lakh parents within the next 18 months with this solution. A processing fee of Rs 999 will be charged. According to an industry report, the school fee of a single child per annum had risen from Rs 55,000 in 2005 to Rs 1.25 lakh in 2015. "This sharp increase in school education costs in metros has made bulk fee payments very difficult for parents.

On the other hand, schools find it difficult to offer monthly payment options to parents due to administrative and operational expenses," Avanse Financial Services CEO Amit Gainda said. He added that all school expenses including tuition fees, books and study materials, etc are covered under this feature.

"As of today, India has more than 1.5 million schools with over 260 million students enrolled. The existing school education segment in India valued at USD 52 billion provides immense growth opportunity, with approximately 28.1 per cent of India's population in the age group of 0-14 years, as of 2015," he said.