– Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)

Mumbai-based Deep Udeshi, chairman and managing director, Educational Software Technologies (EST, estb.2001) and Vibrant Publishers, Colorado, USA (estb.2010), has been a publisher of academic, test prep books and online solutions in India and the US for more than two decades. To meet continuous demand from test takers, the two companies have published 60 hardcopy titles and devised 30 simulated online tests for GRE (Graduate Record Examinations), GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), SAT, TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and ACT (American College Testing) etc, serving over 100,000 students annually. Vibrant Publishers also publishes self-help books popularly known as the Self-Learning Management Series, as well as vocabulary flashcards to assist Indian school-leavers to learn and improve their English language skills.

Newspeg. A strong proponent of flashcards as memorisation aids, Udeshi launched an updated second edition of 1,500 English language vocabulary flashcards on August 15.

“Flashcards help school-leavers and graduates to improve their English vocabulary and learn and master new words. We have always had flashcards in our product portfolio which contain as many as 4,300 words. Our recent research indicates that students can do well in SAT, GRE and other English language tests by concentrating on only 1,500 words included in our latest edition of flashcards,” says Udeshi.

History. One of the first providers of online test prep material in India, Udeshi’s entry into this business was quite by chance. During his last semester at the Mumbai-based Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, Udeshi’s penchant for software programming prompted him to create digital versions of then available GRE, GMAT and other test prep books. The unexpected demand for his online tests led him to promote Educational Software Technologies and enter the test prep publishing business 20 years ago.

A decade later while vacationing in the US, Udeshi became aware of the massive price differential between text prep books produced in the US and India. Spotting a business opportunity he set up Vibrant Publishing. Vibrant test prep books printed in India and sold in the US, are priced at less than half the market price of $75-150 in the US.

Direct talk. “Last year, over 4 million high school-leavers in the US wrote the ACT and SAT exams, and over 100,000 Indian graduates wrote GRE to qualify for admission into universities abroad. We have been offering value for money to students by pricing our books and solutions at affordable rates. We have a team of 50-60 content creators who write content that our young readers can understand easily,” says Udeshi.

Future plans. Udeshi is bullish about growth of the test prep books which are still popular in India. In particular he believes that the large teenage population in India’s tier II-III cities has huge business potential. “We have been focused on metros so far, but are now looking to expand our reach to small-town India and the US. We also believe the lucidity of our content, particularly our Self-Learning Management Series, makes our reading material ideal for students in higher secondary schools across both countries,” says this go-getter edupreneur.

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