India is in the midst of a transformative education revolution.
The size of the India preschool and childcare market is USD 5.59 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow to USD 15.17 billion by 2035 with a CAGR of 10.50%. Not a coincidence. This is driven by the following factors: Rise in household income, rapid urbanisation, emergence of dual income middle class and the change in policy paradigm in India for the first time recognizing early childhood as the foundation of all learning with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 introducing the five-year long foundational stage from the ages of three to eight years.
This compares to less than a quarter of three-year-olds and fewer than 70 per cent of four-year-olds in rural India in just a few years ago. There is a great opportunity, indeed a need, for good franchise operators of preschool and play schools to provide developmentally appropriate, structured, early education in large quantities in an urban market where demand cannot be met.
The brands like Makoons have built up their preschool franchise business in this ethos, not for the purpose of numbers but to solve the real problem for millions of Indian families everyday.
Why The Independent Play School Model Is Struggling?
When you ask any independent play school teacher what the first three years of their practice has been like, there is a common thread that emerges: they’ve had inconsistent admissions, teachers who were not qualified in their first year, no framework to work from and continual effort to build trust with parents from the ground up.
Roughly, some of the key challenges of the sector are low staff to child ratio, disintegration of regulation, low quality curriculum and loss of trained caregivers limiting scalability and quality assurance, especially in Tier 2 and rural settings.
These are not “person x” issues. These gaps are structural differences; those between play school supported by a brand, and stand-alone developing everything from scratch. When these are put into practice, each of these gaps is clearly met in the franchise model – they are part of the franchise model and are built on years of experience with hundreds of centres in the field through systems, training and operational support.
The Market Forces Reshaping India’s Preschool Franchise Sector
Three macro trends will drive the need for good franchise operators of preschool and play schools, especially outside the big metros, in India.
1. Dual-income families are the new normal
The total day care segment will represent the maximum market share of preschool/childcare market in India in 2025 with 64.5%. The most common service model is full day care with the rising number of dual income families in urban areas. Both parents working has greatly raised the need for reliable, structured all-day care. This has directly helped to propel the demand for Day Care Franchise Models and traditional Half Day Play School Models.
2. Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are the growth frontier
As the millennial parents get more and more money to spend, they are seeking formalized early learning programmes and giving new life to branded preschool and childcare chains in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India. Then there are cities such as Lucknow, Dehradun, Nashik, and Coimbatore, where the organised preschool sector is still developing — a brand name, curriculum and standards for operation and management that has gained recognition and established itself in the city is not really in competition with other schools, but is actually shaping the category.
3. NEP 2020 is driving curriculum accountability
The objective of NEP 2020 can be achieved through GEM 100% for all preschool children up to secondary school by 2030 with a framework of foundational learning that acknowledges that play-based and activity-driven methods are the appropriate approach for children aged 3-6 years. It adds weight to the preschool brands that have constructed their curriculum upon the idea of the whole child and makes an impact on the play schools that rely on rote learning.
Makoons: Built From A Real Gap, Not A Business Plan
Mr. Vijay Kumar Agarwal, started Makoons in the year 2016 to bridge the gap between an unorganized education system and young children. The initial Makoons centre was established in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh with a seed capital of around INR 2 crores.
Mr. Vijay Kumar Agarwal and Dr. Shalini Agarwal shared a vision – to change early childhood education in India. The founders noticed a tremendous gap in the preschool area and that there weren’t any institutes that could cater to the developmental needs of young children.
This sense of invention, rather than emulating a model, to address a problem rather than a solution, was to guide the next steps.
Dr. Vijay Kumar Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Makoons Group of Schools has said that they will be teaching academic subjects but also imparting life skills that are essential for the real world.
As far as who he’d like to work with, he’s been equally direct: “Our screening process is a thorough process and we seek out candidates who are genuinely interested in making a difference in the community.
From One Centre In Ghaziabad To 400+ Centres Across Four Countries
Makoons’ journey from one centre in Ghaziabad to India’s fastest-growing preschool franchise brand is well documented
Makoons now has more than 350 centres in four countries – India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and serves children of all backgrounds with quality education. The brand has made a significant difference in the lives of over 100,000 children, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
In just 9 years, Makoons spread across 3 countries, 16 states & 75 cities with 300+ centres, which makes it one of the fastest growing Preschool Networks pan India. The franchise network has since grown to 400+ centres, and the brand’s franchise documentation notes a zero-royalty policy, and a break-even period of 12-18 months for well-run centres.
The expansion has not been limited to markets of North India. Makoons has now gone south and is now present in Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Cities with a vibrant and strong presence of Makoons include Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and many other Tier 2 cities where the demand for quality early childhood education from parents is higher than supply.
The franchise has been opening new branches almost every month and is now establishing itself as a rising force in early childhood education.
The Acmes Curriculum: What Sets The Learning Model Apart
The curriculum is the cornerstone of any good preschools franchise business. A play school that doesn’t have a clear answer to the question of why it does what it does and how it relates to child development science will have a hard time gaining and maintaining parent trust after their first year.
Makoons has created a unique curriculum that is centered on five developmental areas: Aesthetic, Cognitive, Motor, Emotional and Social development. There is a curriculum that helps to prepare children for future challenges which can be used in a variety of areas from metropolitan areas to Tier 5 and Tier 6 towns.
All teachers are required to have a minimum of three years of experience in early childhood education and certification in the field, and the school has a rigorous hiring process for all teachers. All teachers from all centres first receive a 10-day teaching training session to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge needed to provide the very best in teaching.
The use of technology has also been a significant part of Makoons’s model since the beginning. The augmented reality tool ‘Imacle’ helps Makoons to improve visual learning, and also the brand has developed a ‘talking pen’ to help students to improve pronunciation with attention to regional differences in accent. The tools enhance the quality of interactive learning in classrooms serving children, both in metro cities and in smaller towns.
The Zero-Royalty Franchise Model: Why It Changes The Business Case
The most important structure choice Makoons made in developing their preschool franchise business was the zero-royalty policy. This is no trivial fact — it has real business implications for the way franchise partners make their plans and get profitable.
A traditional play school or preschool franchise model is when the franchisor requires a monthly royalty fee, usually a percentage of the revenue. This can have a significant impact and stretch the break-even period and margins of a centre that is running at moderate enrolment in a Tier 2 city.
According to the zero-royalty business model offered by Makoons, franchise partners will have to pay a single setup fee and will keep 100 percent of the profits generated by their centre. They are provided with operational support, curriculum support, teacher training, marketing support, and admissions strategy support without ongoing royalty deductions impacting monthly revenues.
The difference between a 12 month break-even versus 24–30 month break-even is what matters to an entrepreneur considering a franchise investment in a preschool. That gap is a difference that can be a big one in a business where the first two years are the most difficult.
43 Awards Across Nine Years: What Industry Recognition Actually Signals
Given the ability for parents to not easily audit the quality of the curriculum, and independently verify the standards being taught, consistent third party recognition is an important proxy signal.
Makoons has won almost 43 awards over the past nine years, both from government and private entities. These are awards like Most Trusted Preschool Chain of the Year, Most Trusted Preschool of Delhi NCR, Most Trusted Preschool of Bangalore and Best Preschool Chain of the Year. They have recently received the appreciation of ASSOCHAM for their excellence in Innovation and Value-based Learning for Preschools by the Hon’ble Minister of Education, Govt. of Odisha.
Multi-year recognition from independent institutions is a fair yardstick to assess the best preschool franchise in India. It should be used alongside, not in place of, direct discussions with existing franchise partners, and field visits to active centres.
What a Good Play School Franchise Partnership Actually Looks Like?
Not every preschool franchise business makes the same returns. Any play school franchise opportunity an entrepreneur is considering should be studied on five points before he or she enters the fray:
Curriculum depth — Is the curriculum proprietary, age-graded and based on child development science? Educational priorities of cognitive, emotional, social and physical development should be integrated and not just checked off in a play school franchise curriculum.
Teacher Training Infrastructure — Teacher attrition is one of the most harmful issues that early childhood education faces. Does the franchisor provide training and continuous education? Makoons must be trained and certified for 10 days prior to the start of the class and all teachers must be ECE certified.
Operational Support — Whether a school becomes enrolment viable in the first year or not, it can be influenced by the practical inputs the franchisor gives to the school from the initial setup, to the school admissions design, to the benchmarking of fee structures and the marketing at the local level.
Brand Awareness in the local market — The value of a play school franchise brand lies in the perception of the brand by the parents, who already have an expectation of good quality. When brands have a presence in several markets, as they do through similar delivery of your product, through parent word of mouth and through media coverage, it will give your partners a head start in the trust building phase.
Transparency Of Terms — Royalty, renewal terms, exclusivity terms and exit clauses should be transparent. No matter how well known the franchisor may be, entrepreneurs should consult a legal expert before entering into any deal with a preschool franchise.
Final Thoughts: The Sector Rewards Those Who Get The Basics Right
With institutional investors and organised operators seeing the longer-term tailwinds that are driving India’s early childhood education market, the market is poised for a great opportunity in the near future.
However, not all players will receive a reward from the market. The brands that will make their mark in the early childhood education sector in the coming year are the ones that treat curriculum as a serious business, treat teachers as professionals rather than a mere workforce, provide operational infrastructure to franchise partners and adhere to consistent standards across hundreds of centres spread across geography.
Our primary emphasis is on the upbringing and development of children and we focus on their socio-emotional growth over business concerns, as stated by Vijay Kumar Agarwal.
It is that child development is the first priority and business outcomes the second that sets a real preschool franchise business apart from the fakes. To the parents who are looking for high quality in their child’s early learning years and to the entrepreneurs who want a direct purposeful play school that delivers high quality and is a good franchise investment, the difference is all the difference.
Check out makoons.com or reach out to the franchise enquiry team for more info about the Makoons preschool and daycare franchise network.
