SoftBank-backed Indian education technology company Erditas plans to move its headquarters from Singapore to India for a stock market listing, its CEO told Reuters.
Eruditus’ edtech platform competes with NYSE-listed Coursera, offering thousands of online courses from more than 80 universities, including Harvard University, on topics such as artificial intelligence, data science and software coding.
“The Indian stock market is highly multiplier, with very high liquidity and capital,” CEO Ashwin Damera said in an interview on the sidelines of the Indian Education Technology Conference near New Delhi. “This makes Indian IPOs more attractive.”
The company has started working towards an IPO in India, but Damera said it would be at least two years before a potential listing would take place.
India’s $4 trillion stock market is seeing billions of dollars flowing into it from home and abroad as investors flock to the fast-growing alternative market to China.
Reuters reported that the number of IPOs in India exceeded that of Hong Kong last year, despite a 16% decline, and is expected to accelerate this year due to hopes for political stability ahead of elections.
India’s benchmark stock index rose nearly 20% in 2023, outperforming many global indexes.
In recent years, many Indian companies have registered overseas in countries such as Singapore in hopes of improving and facilitating access to capital.
However, recent strength in the Indian market, improved access to capital and an improved regulatory environment have led some companies to relocate their domicile to India as a prerequisite for local listing.
However, these moves also come with tax implications. Last year, Walmart announced it had paid about $1 billion in unpaid taxes to the Indian government after Indian digital payments company PhonePe moved its headquarters from Singapore to India.
Sources with direct knowledge said Erditas has already appointed accounting firm EY to manage and advise on the address transfer. EY did not respond to inquiries from Reuters.
The CEO added that the company is currently considering four to five acquisitions to expand its talent pool.
Eruditus has raised $585 million in primary capital to date, with investors including Accel and Prosus. The company reported sales of 33.2 billion rupees ($400 million) for the fiscal year ending June 2023, up 75% from a year earlier.
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