PhysicsWallah's coaching bet lists +36%; FY26 posts first EBITDA-positive quarter

An edtech company preparing students for engineering, medical and other exams through low-fee online courses, free YouTube content and offline centres - 303 across 152 cities at its November 2025 IPO, 353 by May 2026.

That India's exam-prep market pays modest fees for quality teaching online-first, with affordable offline centres later - a hybrid model that scales and profits.

Founded in 2016 by Alakh Pandey, a physics teacher and college dropout who began uploading free lessons on YouTube, PhysicsWallah rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as offline coaching shut across India. The bet was that affordable, teacher-led test prep - online first, with physical centres in smaller cities later - could win students whom premium coaching chains priced out, and do it as a business rather than a charity.

PW scaled from a YouTube channel into 16 exam categories and a paid learner base that reached 5.34 million in FY26, 91% of them online, while expanding offline centres to 303 in 152 cities across India and the Middle East by the time of its IPO. Its November 2025 public offer - ₹3,480 crore, made up of a ₹3,100 crore fresh issue and ₹380 crore offer for sale at ₹109 per share - was subscribed about 2x, with ₹1,562.85 crore from anchors including Capital Group, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Abu Dhabi Investment Council and PineBridge. Shares listed at ₹145 on the NSE (a 36% premium) on November 18, 2025, valuing the company at ₹45,974.84 crore on debut; promoter holding fell from 81.6% to 72.3%.

In its first full year as a public company (FY26, ended March 2026), PhysicsWallah reported revenue of ₹3,899.5 crore, up 35% from ₹2,886.6 crore in FY25, with the full-year loss narrowing about 90% to ₹24.3 crore. Q4 revenue rose 51% to ₹918 crore and the company reported its first EBITDA-positive quarter since the November 2025 listing. Paid learners grew to 5.34 million (from 4.46 million), offline enrolments reached 470,000, and centres expanded to 353; the stock closed at ₹111.95 on the BSE on results day, above the ₹109 issue price.

The teacher-brand wedge gave PW near-zero customer-acquisition cost: millions of aspirants already knew Alakh Pandey from free YouTube lessons before paying for anything.

It priced against the weakness of the edtech boom: affordable fees and outcome-focused exam prep appealed to tier-2 and tier-3 India that Byju's-era premium edtech priced out.

Hybrid execution compounded: online gave national reach and 91% of paid learners, while offline centres added trust and 470,000 enrolments in smaller cities.

Going public forced financial discipline: within a year of listing, FY26 losses fell about 90% and Q4 turned EBITDA-positive for the first time.

Free content built the audience, low fees scaled it: PW showed edtech can grow on price and teachers, not hype - but converting 5.3M paid learners into EBITDA only arrived in Q4 FY26.

As of May 27, 2026, PhysicsWallah is a listed company (NSE: PWL) trading around ₹112 on the BSE, having delivered a 35% revenue jump to ₹3,899.5 crore and a first EBITDA-positive quarter in FY26. It continues to expand its hybrid footprint - 353 centres by results day - and its learner base reached 5.34 million paid students across 16 exam categories, with founders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari describing FY26 as the pivotal first full post-IPO year in their shareholder letter.