Dubai’s Gems Education lines up India expansion with USD 30 mn investment

Gems Education is making a fresh push into India. The Dubai-headquartered education operator plans to invest up to USD 30 mn in the country over the next three to five years, Economic Times reports. The expansion plans include opening more than 30 Gems-operated schools across India, alongside a network of over 1k partner schools that will carry the Gems brand, targeting a total of over 3 mn students. It’s also planning to launch a teacher-training system and a Category II alternative investment fund, targeting school infrastructure and new campus developments in high-demand, low-supply markets.

The rollout is already taking shape. Gems India has lined up 21 school projects, with the first five campuses due to open this academic year, while another 16 campuses are planned over the following two years across eight states.

The move adds to its expansion plans in the UAE, including plans to invest AED 2 bn over the next three years, despite what CEO Dino Varkey described as a slight dip in student registrations this year as fewer families move here from overseas amid geopolitical uncertainty, he told Reuters.

Just a small blip? “It’s still very much a growth scenario. Just maybe the velocity has been dialed down a little bit,” Varkey said. “Once ​we have a really clear resolution in relation to the conflict, I actually expect a lot of families to look back on their decisions and frankly choose to move over here,” he added.