India's Higher-Education Sector Targets 2.7 Bn Sqft, 30,000-Acre Opportunity: ANAROCK Capital

India's higher-education sector is emerging as one of the world's largest institutional real estate opportunities over the next decade, finds the ANAROCK Capital report 'The Academic Real Estate Supercycle'. Nearly 30,000 acres of new campus land and approximately 2.7 billion square feet of academic infrastructure are set to be developed to meet surging student demand. This scale of expansion, underpinned by demographic momentum, rising enrolments, globalisation of education, and landmark regulatory reforms, represents arguably the largest higher-education build-out market globally.

Shobhit Agarwal, CEO - ANAROCK Capital, says, "India's higher-education enrolments have surged from 27 million in 2010-11 to 45 million in 2022-23, driven by powerful demographic engines and rising household aspirations. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 targets a Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 50% by 2035, requiring approximately 25 million additional seats.”

“Meeting this demand will necessitate approximately USD 100 billion in construction-led investment for academic facilities alone, excluding land acquisition and student accommodation infrastructure. We believe the provision in the Union Budget 2026 to support the creation of five university townships reflects a recognition of the gap in academic infrastructure."

India's higher-education sector is at a critical inflection point, the report notes. The country has witnessed a dramatic expansion in its higher-secondary (XI+XII) pipeline, with overall higher-secondary GER increasing from 19.5% in 2010-11 to 62.3% in 2021-22. This expansion is particularly pronounced among girls, whose GER has grown 3.3x – from 19.8% in 2001-02 to 66% in 2021-22 – substantially outpacing male GER growth of 2.4x during the same period.

Supporting this structural demand is India's capacity expansion, which has seen universities increase from 760 in 2015 to 1,338 in 2025, while total Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have grown from 51,534 to 70,018. However, current infrastructure remains insufficient to meet both policy ambitions and demographic momentum.

Aashiesh Agarwaal, SVP - Investment Advisory, ANAROCK Capital, says, "After the FHEI Regulations that enable top-ranked global universities to establish independent campuses in India with their own degrees, full academic autonomy, and UGC oversight were announced in 2023, foreign higher-education institutions ranked within the top 500 globally can now establish campuses without affiliating with Indian universities if they demonstrate financial capability and create the needed physical infrastructure.”