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Hyderabad: India’s higher-education sector is emerging as one of the world’s largest institutional real estate opportunities over the next decade, a report by ANAROCK Capital titled “The Academic Real Estate Supercycle” has said.

To meet the rising demand, nearly 30,000 acre of new campus land and approximately 2.7 billion square feet of academic infrastructure are set to be developed.

Chief executive officer (CEO) of ANAROCK Capital, Shobhit Agarwal, said that 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.

However, he said that approximately 25 million additional seats are required to reach a gross enrollment ratio (GER) of 50 per cent by 2035, a target set by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

He said that meeting this demand needs approximately USD 100 billion in construction-led investment for academic facilities alone, excluding land acquisition and student accommodation infrastructure.

The report also states that India has witnessed a dramatic expansion in its higher-secondary pipeline, with overall higher-secondary GER increasing from 19.5 per cent in 2010-11 to 62.3 per cent in 2021-22. Notably, the GER for girls has grown 3.3 times, from 19.8 per cent in 2001-02 to 66 per cent in 2021-22, substantially outpacing male GER growth of 2.4 times during the same period.

To meet this, India has seen universities increase from 760 in 2015 to 1,338 in 2025, while total higher education institutions (HEI) have grown from 51,534 to 70,018.

Still, current infrastructure remains insufficient to meet both policy ambitions and demographic momentum, the report says.

Senior vice-president of Investment Advisory at ANAROCK Capital, Aashiesh Agarwaal, said that several state governments have started initiatives to complement the Foreign Higher Educational Institutions Regulations that enable global universities to establish independent campuses in India with their own degrees, full academic autonomy and University Grants Commission (UGC) oversight.

Uttar Pradesh has rolled out stamp duty exemptions and capital subsidies for higher education institutions, while GIFT City in Gujarat has created a dedicated international campus framework with shared academic infrastructure.

Maharashtra is also set to establish a 250-acre “Educity” near Navi Mumbai International Airport, securing commitments from five foreign higher education institutions.

The report says that over the next decade, policy direction, demographic shifts and institutional reforms are likely to determine how India’s higher-education sector expands and who participates in this growth.

For global investors, operators and education platforms, the current phase offers a meaningful opportunity to build strong positions in India’s evolving higher education landscape, the report said.