The growing education market, which is estimated at USD 40 billion, is attracting interest from a lot of young entrepreneurs. The advent of technology is making classrooms not just smart, but also fun. The idea to use technology to enhance learning in classrooms led by Ram Gollamudi and his friends, to start Edutor Technologies in 2009, a pioneer in launching tablets for students in school.

The Edutor student tablet comes loaded with content that can be updated and it is compatible with all tablet platforms like Android, iOS and Windows mobile solutions. Having already gross revenues of Rs 2,000 crore, Edutor is now targeting Rs 10 crore by next year.

Below is an edited transcript of the interview with Ram Gollamudi on CNBC-TV18’s special show, Young Turks. Also watch the accompanying video

Ram Gollamudi and his team started Edutor Technologies to focus on providing learning solutions for tablets which could be used as a teaching tool.  Apart from serving private schools, Edutor Technologies is in collaboration with the incubation center at IIT-Madras to work on a solution to cater to high-school students in government schools. Serving more than 4,000 children in India, Ram hopes to cater to 10,000 by the end of the year. But what got him started?

Ram Gollamudi, founder & CEO, Edutor Technologies: During my 15-year stay in the US, I observed how technology was used in the whole learning and teaching processes.

The idea to use technology to enhance the learning process struck me when my when my 4-5 year-old son picked up the rudiments of english, maths and science by playing with the iPod Touch.

I returned to India and starting developing the idea with my friends, two-and-a-half years ago. We extensively developed software and content to really take advantage of the rich medium a tablet provides and deliver superior learning experience for students.

And helping them create this superior experience are investors like Hyderabad Angels who invested Rs 2 crore. Ram claims that while the money is being invested in product development, sales and marketing, Edutor Technologies has already grossed revenue of Rs 2 crore through content subscription and sales of software licences.

Ram: The content subscription fees are anywhere between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 depending on the grade. We currently cater to students from third grade to 12th grade and we serve more than 4,000 students so far in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi. In terms of subscription, it is Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 and the tablet anywhere can range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 depending on the configuration.

Ram has been able to keep costs low by leveraging existing commercially available technologies that are used worldwide. A 45-member team works on content engineering and development. Ram says that selling the idea of a smart classroom has been his biggest challenge yet.

Ram: In the next 12-18 months targets I have to continue to improve the product, make it a lot faster, seamless and integrated with cloud solution. We wish to reach out to a larger audience and expand to tier-I, tier-II and tier-III cities in the next 12- 18 months.

The team at Edutor now plans to sell over 15,000 tablets and reach a turnover of Rs 10 crore by next year. In three years, it aims to reach out to a million users.

source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / Home> News / by CNBC-TV18 / January 15th, 2012