Acquiring CBSE Schools Pan-India, Metros, Tier 1 & Tier 2 Cities

Cities we are actively evaluating

135 city pages across 36 states and Union Territories, each with local fee bands, land rates, EBITDA multiples and its own calculator. Schools outside these cities are still welcome to enquire.

Frequently asked questions

Who is acquiring these running CBSE schools?

A leading private university group headquartered in North India. The group's core institution is a private university, not a chain of K-12 schools, and this acquisition mandate is how it is building its school vertical Pan India. The group's identity is shared with shortlisted parties under a mutual confidentiality undertaking.

Is this a brokerage, a listing portal or a fund?

None of the three. We are the buyer. There is no brokerage, no success fee and no charge of any kind to the school owner at any stage. Nothing about your school is listed publicly, and no third party is told that you are exploring a sale.

Which metros are on the active acquisition mandate?

We are acquiring running CBSE schools in 12 metro markets: Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad. Metro campuses attract our highest multiples because fee realisation, occupancy and land values are all strongest there.

Which Tier 1 cities are covered?

Tier 1 coverage runs across 11 cities: Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Patna, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Surat, Visakhapatnam. These markets combine metro-grade demand with land that is still affordable, which usually makes them the best risk-adjusted acquisitions on our list.

Which state and Union Territory capitals are covered?

Every state and UT capital on our mandate has a dedicated page. State capitals: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow, Bhopal, Patna, Dehradun, Gandhinagar, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi, Guwahati, Shimla, Panaji, Gangtok, Shillong, Imphal, Aizawl, Kohima, Agartala, Itanagar, Dispur. Union Territory capitals and UT cities: Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Jammu, Puducherry, Port Blair, Kavaratti, Silvassa, Daman, Leh.

Which Tier 2 cities are on the list?

Tier 2 coverage spans 112 cities: Bhopal, Mohali, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, Dehradun, Haridwar, Roorkee, Rishikesh, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Agra, Meerut, Bareilly, Aligarh, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Nashik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nanded, Latur, Sangli, Kalyan, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Gandhinagar, Anand, Bharuch, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Davangere, Shivamogga, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kollam, Alappuzha, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Erode, Vellore, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Tirupati, Warangal, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Raipur, Bilaspur, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain, Sagar, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Gaya, Guwahati, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Siliguri, Durgapur, Asansol, Howrah, Udaipur, Kota, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Hisar, Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat, Karnal, Ambala, Shimla, Srinagar, Jammu, Panaji, Puducherry, Port Blair, Kavaratti, Silvassa, Daman, Leh, Gangtok, Shillong, Imphal, Aizawl, Kohima, Agartala, Itanagar, Dispur. Tier 2 campuses with clean land title and steady occupancy are acquired at 6x to 12x normalised EBITDA, and are the fastest growing part of our pipeline.

Which states and Union Territories are in scope?

All of them. States: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal. Union Territories: Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Delhi NCR, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Puducherry.

My school is not in any of the listed cities. Should I still enquire?

Yes. The city pages show where we are searching hardest, not the limit of what we will buy. District towns, industrial townships, highway corridor campuses, hill-station boarding schools and semi-urban campuses with good land are all reviewed. Submit the form and select the nearest listed city.

What types of schools are considered?

Running CBSE affiliated schools, provisional or permanent affiliation, from pre-primary through senior secondary. Established, fully enrolled campuses are the core target. Under-utilised, part-built, loss-making or early-stage campuses with strong land and infrastructure are equally welcome, because the turnaround upside sits with us as the buyer.

What deal structures are available?

Four. Full acquisition of the school, its operations and assets. Purchase of a majority stake with the founding society retaining the balance. A minority strategic investment that funds expansion while the family keeps control. Or a long-term lease of your land and building with a management takeover, so you retain ownership of the real estate.

How is a running CBSE school valued?

Revenue equals student strength multiplied by realised average annual fee. EBITDA is revenue at a normalised operating margin, usually 22 to 32 percent once promoter drawings and related-party rent are adjusted. Enterprise value is normalised EBITDA at a city-appropriate multiple: 11x to 16x in metros, 9x to 14x in Tier 1, 6x to 12x in Tier 2. Owned land is added separately at 80 to 100 percent of comparable institutional rates. Debt, unprovisioned gratuity, statutory arrears and deferred capex are deducted at diligence.

Can I see an indicative number before I contact you?

Yes. Every city page carries a valuation and ROI calculator preloaded with that city's fee band, land rate and EBITDA multiple, and there is a standalone calculator at /roi-calculator. Move the sliders for student strength, fee, occupancy, margin and acreage and you will get an indicative enterprise value band, a per-student value and a land value, along with what each of the four deal structures would look like.

What documents will you eventually need?

Three years of audited accounts, fee collection and enrolment records by grade, the CBSE affiliation certificate and latest extension letter, land title documents with the mutation and conversion record, the society or trust deed with registration, staff strength with salary and gratuity liability, and a statement of debt, statutory dues and any litigation.

What happens to my staff, students and school brand?

Continuity is the plan. Teaching staff are retained on comparable terms in the overwhelming majority of cases, the academic calendar runs uninterrupted, and the school name is retained wherever it carries local equity. As a university group, our interest is in strengthening the academic pipeline, not in stripping it.

How long does a transaction take?

For a prepared seller, three to five months from first conversation to closing: two business days for our first response, two to three weeks for a mutual NDA and an indicative non-binding range, six to ten weeks of diligence, then definitive agreements and society or trust approvals.

Is my enquiry confidential?

Completely. Submissions are read only by the acquisitions team. Nothing is shared with brokers, competing schools or any third party, there is no public listing, and no approach is made to your staff or parents.

How do I start?

The Running CBSE School Acquisition Enquiry Form on this site is our only point of contact. We do not run a public phone line or email desk. Complete the form in as much detail as you can, more complete submissions are evaluated faster, and if your school meets our expectations we will get back to you within 2 business days.

More detail, including every city by state and Union Territory, is on the full FAQ page.