Saurabh Mittal brings expertise in strategic planning, long-term financial planning, digital transformation, and business turnaround. He has contributed to building new EdTech verticals, improving performance metrics, and supporting business expansion through global partnerships. His experience also includes managing key relationships, bringing people together to achieve common goals, startup investing and mentoring, and content licensing partnerships.

In an email interaction with Priyanka R, Business Writer at siliconindia, Saurabh Mittal, CFO at S Chand Group, shared his insights on ‘How CFOs Can Balance Cost Control and Business Growth in Edtech’. 

India’s EdTech industry is entering a phase where sustainable growth, profitability and operational efficiency are becoming increasingly important alongside innovation. As companies expand beyond traditional publishing into digital learning, artificial intelligence (AI), test preparation and content licensing, financial decisions are becoming more complex. Investments in emerging technologies must be balanced against the need to maintain healthy margins and reliable cash flows. At the same time, working-capital efficiency and strategic consolidation are shaping how education businesses allocate capital and pursue growth. This makes financial planning central to building resilient education businesses that can adapt to changing market needs without compromising long-term stability. 

Balancing Cost Optimisation with Long-Term Growth 

The shift towards profitability in EdTech calls for a more disciplined approach to capital allocation, with sustainable growth taking precedence over aggressive expansion. Costs that can be optimised include excessive marketing expenditure, operational inefficiencies and investments in unproven business models. However, spending on quality content, curriculum development, technology integration and customer-driven innovation remains essential for long-term value creation. 

The same financial discipline must extend to acquisitions and strategic investments. Profitability, healthy margins, growth potential and the ability to address gaps in existing portfolios should take precedence over transaction size. Since education is a gradual and evolving sector, meaningful changes often require time to deliver results. New initiatives must therefore demonstrate financial viability and a clear path to self-sufficiency while safeguarding the stability of the core business. 

Evaluating AI Investments Amid Evolving Revenue Models 

AI investments require a long-term perspective, particularly when revenue models are still evolving. Investment decisions should be guided by the ability to address genuine learning needs, improve educational outcomes, strengthen existing offerings and create sustainable value rather than adopting technology solely for innovation. 

Returns should be assessed using both financial and operational indicators, including adoption rates, student engagement, recurring revenue, scalability and operational efficiency. AI-powered learning solutions, such as AI tutors integrated with textbooks, also require evaluation of content accuracy, reliability and their ability to complement existing teaching methods. 

Investment decisions should prioritize profitability, healthy margins and sustainable growth while ensuring that new initiatives remain financially viable.

Beyond learning solutions, AI is creating monetisation opportunities through intellectual property and content licensing for AI model training. Although these opportunities can generate additional revenue streams, their evolving nature calls for prudent capital allocation and realistic growth expectations. Emerging initiatives should scale gradually without compromising the financial stability of established businesses. 

Improving Working Capital without Disrupting Business Relationships 

Working-capital management is essential to financial stability in educational publishing, where inventory cycles, distributor relationships and timely collections directly influence cash flow. Improving receivables requires rationalising distribution networks, prioritising partners with stronger payment discipline and establishing clear credit policies to reduce exposure to delayed collections. 

Working-capital facilities and supplier discounting arrangements through platforms such as the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) can also help align cash inflows and outflows while supporting timely supplier payments. Consistent communication with distributors and schools remains important to ensure that financial discipline does not undermine long-term business relationships. 

Sustained attention to these measures can improve working-capital efficiency. Improvements in receivable and inventory cycles over the past five years, alongside average annual operating cash flow of approximately Rs 100 crore during the same period, highlight the importance of disciplined cash-flow management in supporting business stability. 

Assessing Acquisitions and Strategic Partnerships in EdTech 

As consolidation increases across Indian EdTech, decisions to acquire, partner or build capabilities internally must be guided by strategic fit, financial viability and long-term value creation rather than expansion alone. Identifying gaps in existing portfolios helps determine whether external opportunities can address these requirements more efficiently than internal development. 

For acquisitions, profitability, healthy operating margins, growth potential and reasonable valuations should remain key priorities. Financial discipline is essential to avoid overpaying, even when an opportunity offers a strong strategic fit. The ability to complement existing offerings across educational publishing, digital learning and test preparation is more important than the size of the target business. 

Integration timelines, cash-flow implications and scalability also require careful assessment. Since schools may take two to three years to fully adopt new solutions, the time required to realise commercial benefits must be factored into investment decisions. A clear understanding of adoption cycles and integration costs can help ensure that acquisitions and partnerships deliver sustainable value. 

Balancing Established Revenue Streams with Emerging Growth Opportunities 

As education companies expand into publishing, digital learning, AI and content licensing, financial planning must balance the stability of established businesses with the uncertainty of newer ventures. Strengthening the core business while developing the emerging verticals gradually helps maintain financial resilience. Traditional publishing continues to provide a stable foundation through established demand, content quality and long-standing relationships with schools and educators. 

At the same time, AI offers opportunities to improve operational efficiency, reduce content development costs and create additional revenue through intellectual property and data licensing. International expansion and digital learning solutions can further diversify revenue streams and extend market reach. 

However, emerging businesses require careful evaluation because revenue models remain fluid, digital engagement can fluctuate and adoption cycles in education can be lengthy. Established business lines can be assessed through profitability and operating margins, while newer ventures require additional scrutiny of customer demand, scalability and monetisation potential. Prioritising investments that build on strong content capabilities and address clear market needs can help education companies pursue innovation without weakening the financial foundation of their existing businesses. 

Ultimately, the next phase of India’s EdTech industry will depend on how effectively companies translate educational expertise into commercially viable offerings. Financial performance will increasingly be shaped by the ability to identify which solutions customers are willing to pay for, how quickly new products can gain institutional acceptance and whether intellectual property can generate value beyond traditional sales.

For CFOs, this calls for a closer connection between financial analysis and market behaviour, ensuring that business decisions reflect actual demand rather than projected opportunities.

Companies that understand these commercial realities will be better positioned to navigate changing education needs and build business models that remain relevant as the sector evolves.