India now 2nd-largest host of international schools as parents seek to future-proof kids’ future

MUMBAI: Once a rarefied choice for the elite few,

international schooling

in India has quietly become a national conversation. Today, India hosts the second-largest number of international schools worldwide — not just in name with a tag, but in affiliation with global education boards.
Over the past decade, middle-class families from every corner India have found themselves at a crossroads: Should their children follow the familiar path of Indian boards or chart a new course with a foreign curriculum?
At the turn of this century, the school education sector was rather different: there were merely eight institutes offering the

IB programme

, and the count of schools offering the Cambridge course (

IGCSE

) was so insignificant that the board did not even have records of its presence in India in 2000. By 2011-12, the two boards - Cambridge International and International Baccalaureate - had 197 and 99 schools respectively.
Fresh data from ISC Research, a think-tank that tracks the world's international schools' market, shows that India, home to 884 schools in 2019, now in Jan 2025 has 972 schools, reflecting a five-year growth trajectory of 10%. For comparison, the total number of international schools grew by 8% in this time frame and now stands at 14,833. Maharashtra now leads with 210 schools aligned with IB or IGCSE programmes. Karnataka follows, while Tamil Nadu and Telangana are quickly catching up.

"More Indian families, expatriates, and NRIs are choosing international schools, which is why cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi are seeing more investment from international school chains. Parents now have higher incomes, and they see global curriculums as a way to future-proof their children's careers, making sure they study in systems that match Western universities and open doors to global opportunities," said Abishek Pandy, ISC Research field research manager, India.
What's striking is the in-roads these boards have made - reaching far beyond the cities where they first landed. International schools now dot the map in places like Hatkanagale in Sangli, Tholahunse in Davangere, and Sonaghati in Betul. "Every year, Cambridge is adding 100 schools, and 30 to 40 new schools of IB are coming up each year. The aspiration of the middle class is at an all-time high. The phenomenon is not limited to metro cities but tier 2 and 3 cities, where the major growth now is coming from," said Mahesh Srivastava, former regional director (South Asia), Cambridge Assessment International Education.
"The global exposure and the rising income are in short the two reasons why Indians are opting for the international boards," added Srivastava, capturing the dual engine driving this shift: aspiration and access.
But it is not only the destination that draws them - it is also the design. Former IB representative for South Asia, Farzana Dohadwalla, believes that what draws parents in is the architecture of the learning itself.
"Personalised learning, which is the smaller class sizes, is one of the main reasons according to me that parents are demanding international schools. Most schools have 25-30 students to a class. Additionally, very different strategies of teaching-learning take place; it is not didactic where a teacher stands in the front and teaches students," she said.
Added Kunal Dalal, managing director, JBCN Education, "The international curriculum emphasises inquiry-based learning, interdisciplinary thinking, and real-world application, fostering essential skills for future career aspirations. Furthermore, international education places a strong emphasis on experiential learning, global perspectives, and learner-led initiatives, empowering learners to become proactive problem-solvers and changemakers." It is not just the syllabus that has changed - it is the structure, the culture, and the people. What began as a foreign transplant has rooted itself firmly in Indian soil. "Now, 60%-70% of students who study in an international school pursue their college education in India itself," said Dohadwalla.
The faces at the front of the classroom are also changing. Where once foreign heads guided these institutions, today it is largely Indian educators - trained, upskilled, and attuned to both global standards and local sensibilities - who are shaping the direction. International schooling may have once stood apart from India's educational tradition; today, it has become part of the tapestry, said most experts.
But in the quiet calculus of modern education, perception also outweighs pedagogy for many. Educationist Francis Joseph captures this shift with candour: starting an international school, he explained, simply makes strategic sense. The process of affiliation is smoother, the branding more aspirational, and the tuition - strikingly higher - is met with little resistance. "Will a parent pay four lakhs a year for a CBSE school? No," he said. "But give it the international tag, and no one blinks."
It's not just about curriculum - it's about optics too. "In a world where educational institutions are also real estate investments, international schools align neatly with the land-and-building models of private owners. They're more than schools; they're signals of status, carefully constructed to appeal to ambition and aspiration," said Joseph.
Also, what began as a quiet experiment has now become a full-fledged business model - one that echoes the playbook of consumer giants. Much like FMCG companies learned to tailor their products for every price point, schools too are learning to segment their offerings for a layered marketplace like India. The result? A surge in institutions offering multiple curricula under one roof.
"As cities expand and stratify, the expectations of parents evolve just as quickly," said Joseph. "With spending power fluctuating , schools have learned to adapt. Dual boards - once a novelty - are now a strategic staple. A national curriculum runs alongside an international one, often within same campus, designed to appeal to families across socioeconomic spectrum."