S Chand Targets Rs 800 Cr Revenue, Partners Google Lens

New Delhi, Jun 17 (PTI) S Chand, a leading textbook publisher and education content provider, is aiming to cross Rs 800 crore revenue in the current fiscal, supported by its core business growth and digital initiatives, its CFO Saurabh Mittal said on Tuesday.

Internet giant Google has partnered with this 86-year-old publishing house to integrate its Google Lens with school textbooks for interactive learning tools, ensuring that students can access explanations, translations and problem-solving assistance.

The initiative, in which students by scanning textbooks can access explanations and engaging video lessons, has already been integrated into over 300 textbook titles of S Chand, reaching over 5 million copies in print.

Besides working on the digital side, S Chand, with its internal available cash, is also scouting for acquisitions to fill in the gaps in its offering, whether it is the test preparation section or international curriculum, he said.

"We have enough cash within our system, ensuring we can go for acquisitions. So, we are looking at a few opportunities. We will probably announce it in the next six months," Mittal told PTI.

S Chand, which completed the acquisition of Chhaya Prakashani in December 2019-20, has not made any acquisitions in the last six years.

"But this is what we are stepping out to do more. We have, in between, done a lot of edtech investments, in some of them we have already exited," he said.

According to Mittal, S Chand's 85 per cent of revenue comes from textbook sections, and the rest is from digital initiatives and others.

S Chand's revenue was Rs 732.7 crore for the financial year ended March 2024.

"For this financial year, we have given guidance of Rs 800 crore," he said.

According to Mittal, the last 2-3 years have been busy with the rollout of NCF (National Curriculum Framework), which provides guidelines for developing and implementing the school curriculum in India.

"Focus for us is to ensure that at least all the user schools go on to the new NCF curriculum in the next two years. But that rollout is slow; hopefully, by the end of this year, most of the books will have been printed by NCERT," he said.

In NCF, the publisher has to ensure that books as aligned with NCERT, Mittal said.

"That was the focus in the last two, three years. Now going forward, we have multiple things. Wherever we see gaps in our system, we are trying to fill it, either internally or through acquisitions," he added.

According to Mittal, post-COVID, there are changes in teaching and learning, especially nine to twelve class segment. It has also enhanced its presence on channels like YouTube.

"...a lot of children are moving on to YouTube to grab concepts. So, we have also added simulations. We also added a lot of videos to our book so that at least they get authentic content," he said, adding that these are now part of the books.

S Chand also has an app 'My StudyGear', where it is increasing its content.

Its partnership with Google will help many students who lack access to tutors or additional resources, making it challenging to grasp complex concepts, solve intricate equations, or bridge language barriers.

"This integration with Google Lens directly addresses these gaps by turning textbooks into interactive learning tools, ensuring that students can easily access explanations, translations, and problem-solving assistance," said an S Chand statement.

Here, a student, by simply scanning his textbooks, can unlock a range of interactive features, access to explanations and engaging video lessons for subjects like Mathematics, History, Chemistry, Biology, and Physics, with access to relevant videos to better help students grasp challenging concepts.

They will also get step-by-step solutions for mathematical problems, including complex equations and concepts, to help clarify and simplify problem-solving by showing the underlying methodology.