NIIT Limited, the global IT Learning Solutions Corporation, is known for its pioneering work in the field of IT education and training. The brainchild of two, young Indian entrepreneurs pioneered and nurtured the concept of high quality IT education in India. Set up in 2nd December of the year 1981 under the name of Pace Education Private Limited. NIIT has trained one out of every three software professionals in the country and become a beacon in the global IT revolution. From introducing computers to the people of India, to providing advanced IT skills to students and professionals, NIIT has evolved into a training powerhouse. NIIT's vast education delivery network spread over 34 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Australia/Oceania, blends classroom and on-line learning.
The first Computer Education Centre was set up in the year 1982 at Mumbai and later in the same year another centre was opened in Delhi. The Company status was revised as public limited in 27th October of the year 1988, subsequently, in 16th November of the year 1990 the name of the Company was changed to NIIT Limited. In the year 1992, NIIT had successfully introduced two new facilities in the form of Computerdromes' and the Carry Home PC'. The Company received the international quality certification, ISO 9001 in the year 1993, for its Instructional Software Exports Division (ISX) from Bureau Veritas Quality International, UK. In the same year of 1993, NIIT had set up state-of-the-art software factories as per the project plan for offshore development of Instructional software, Application software and System software and also launched the GNIIT (Software Exports) curriculum. The year 1994 was notable one in saga of the company; NIIT had launched its new 2 1/2 year career programme in sales more than doubled its growth and expanded its reach five-fold. In the year 1995, Microsoft had certified the company as an independent coursework vendor; NIIT was the only one non-US company received this status. During the year 1996, the company had developed further state-of-art methods for absorbing, adapting and effectively deploying new technologies.
The year 1997 showed the Company emerged as a Global IT Services Corporation. Ranked as the No.3 software provider for global markets from India by NASSCOM. In the same year 1997, NIIT Ltd had entered into a partnership with Silicon Graphics India, leader in visual computing and web-based solutions, for creating the Webmaster programme, a new Internet-based programme of studies. NIIT in co-operation with the Hong Kong-based TVE Group and Pudong Continuing Education Centre of the Shanghai Higher Education (PCEC had started an IT education and training centre in Shanghai during the year 1998 and also introduced Spirit Funds for employees to take up courses for their personal effectiveness, public speaking, or courses in foreign languages. In the same year 1998, NIIT had signed an agreement with Malaysia's first Virtual University' to share technology and design and prepare the course curriculum. During the year 1999, NIIT had launched an integrated enterprise-wide information technology training solution called eMPOWER-IT and also entered into an alliance with Microsoft Corporation to launch the Microsoft Sales Specialist Programs. The Company and Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to offer finite element analysis (FEA) software solutions, engineering services and consultancy. In the identical year of 1999, NIIT had launched Project Platypus a technology initiative that will enhance the content and delivery mechanism of IT education. The Company had launched its corporate virtual university programme in the US during the period of 2000 and made it available from a single vendor also set up a separate subsidiary, NIIT Online Learning Ltd.
During the year 2000, NIIT had poised to set up a subsidiary in China through a joint venture with TVE International and entered a strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems to jointly develop technical strategies for dot coms. The Company made a tie-up with the Information and Industrial Systems & Services division of Toshiba Corp to offer e-business solutions to a Japanese automaker and also bagged a .6 million e-knowledge solutions order from Macmillan USA, Inc. NIIT had tied up with Alcatel in the year 2001 to address large enterprise accounts in India and global markets in banking, financial and insurance sectors, also partner with Alcatel in domestic projects like the Rs 550-crore Delhi Metro Rail and VSNL project. During the year 2002, the company has awarded a multi-million software maintenance, support and enhancement contract by Victorian Government of Infrastructure. Conferred Microsoft's 'Best CTEC Solution Company in Asia Pacific Award' 2002. NIIT had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form an academic alliance with the US based ITT Educational Services Inc. NIIT and Indonesia's University Atma Jaya conclude a strategic initiative during the year 2003 for setting up high-tech computer Education centre at the University campus in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The Company acquired e-Gurukul, a provider of e-learning in schools for Rs.15cr in the year 2003 and also in the same year made tie-up with Karnataka State Open University and New-Delhi based Virtual Education Trust. During the year 2004, NIIT had joined hands with IIT Delhi to create an intensive learning programme for the sunrise bio-informatics field. Made tie- up with Reliance Info for call centre training, inked pact with Microsoft to launch IT programmes for faculty and also introduced a new 'industry endorsed' multiple track GNIIT programme for career aspirants in IT. In the year 2005, the company had launched Computer Education' in 1200 Chhattisgarh schools, NIIT & INTEL India collaborates on joint training programs and also made academic alliance with UK's Open University. NIIT partnered with ICICI Bank in September of the year 2006 to offers programs for individuals and corporates in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance. Leading IT magazine Dataquest has conferred upon NIIT, the Top IT Training Company Award 2007. As at November 2007, the company made a strategic alliance with US based Key Curriculum Press, a leading provider of software research and development for mathematics education, to introduce Mathematics Laboratories in Indian schools.
NIIT and Microsoft Corporation had agreed to deepen their ongoing alliance in February of the year 2008 to make available a large pool of Microsoft Certified professionals, for global talent requirement. The Company had launched Bangalore's first NIIT eGuru Math Lab' at DPS South in June of the year 2008 and also in same month and same year, the NIIT had entered into a strategic alliance with Infospectrum, a global software development and technology services enterprise to offer proven educational resource planning solutions in schools. NIIT, SAS forged global alliance in July 2008 to develop talent for emerging Business Intelligence Technologies.
During the financial year 2008-09, the Company consolidated its leadership position as a Global Talent Development Corporation and started the year based on its stated strategy set, which focused around Accelerated growth; improved profitability; and Market leadership in chosen areas. It partnered with various globally recognized technology companies like SAS, Cisco, Microsoft etc. and expanded its product portfolio by launching various new program like Futurz-99, Global Net+, Microsoft Silverlight etc. The Company saw an acceleration of interest by many State Governments for providing IT education in schools. It launched eGuru Smart ScienceStation and MathLab, two innovative learning solutions. Further, it launched the first ever state-of-art Web & Multimedia curriculum for schools in India, based on Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection. In the Learning Products, the Company launched real world' solutions that allow customers to use both online and print materials to support blended training. It set up 'NIIT Institute of Process Excellence Limited' with Genpact, under the brand name NIIT UNIQUA.
The Company in 2009-10, expanded its product portfolio by launching various new programs like Futurz: GNIIT IMS Track, Diploma in Finance & Accounts, ERP Training for SMB segments etc. It launched basic English and professional life skills training for consumers under the brand NIIT English Plus'. The Individual Learning Solutions in 2010-11, launched new initiatives to build a robust order book. These initiatives included new products to address changing preferences, focus on higher end segment with new offerings, integration of various offerings under One NIIT' and new delivery models. In the Schools Learning Solutions, the Company focused on the non-government schools increasing the size of the sales force significantly, putting a new leadership team in place, revamping ICR content which was launched towards year end. In the Corporate Learning Solutions, it achieved steadily rising sales, collection and profitability in the backdrop of a sluggish global economy. This was accomplished through aggressive sales activity and robust delivery performance across North America, Europe and India.
During the year 2011-12, the Individual Learning Solutions offerings included IT, BFSI, Management, BPO and English & Professional life skills. In the School Learning Solutions business, it provided solutions and services for IT training and technology enabled learning & teaching for schools, teachers' training and learning for underserved children. The Company offered NIIT nGuru solution comprising of Interactive Classrooms' for teachers, Math lab' and IT Wizard' for students and Quick School' an Education Resource Planning solution for school management. In the Corporate Learning Solutions business, it focused on the managed training services business. Then , it got into a strategic partnership with the National Skill Development Corporation to form the NIIT Yuva Jyoti Limited (NYJL). This subsidiary Company was incorporated to engage in the business of skill development, thus converting unemployed youth into employable professionals in various sectors. NYJL started out with strong focus on Service Sectors like Retail (Both traditional retail and Auto Sales), Hospitality (F&B) and ITeS (BPO), offering both career specific and career foundation specific courses.
In 2012-13, the Company into Skill Building Solutions, enhanced skills and employability of youth across India, with emphasis to offer job oriented training to applicants mainly from low and middle income households in semi-urban and rural areas. It developed kills development curriculum for new sectors like Retail, Hospitality, Auto Retail, Showroom Retail, BPO and other informal sectors. 34 centers were made operational across six states viz. Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.
In 2013-14, the Company worked out a New Scheme of Arrangement, by the virtue of transferring the Schools business to a wholly owned subsidiary i.e. Hole-In-The-Wall Education Limited (HIWEL), which is now rechristened as Mindchampion Learning Systems Limited. This was done to enable options for funding, partnerships and alliances to address the large opportunity in the schools market. The organization furthermore, was restructured, and its center capacity, headcount and roles, and product portfolio were rationalized and consolidated across various training offerings in India including IT training, IFBI, Imperia, Uniqua and NIIT Yuva Jyoti. In this way, SNC products were made available across the entire network of owned and business partner centers, leading to an increase in reach and revenue potential for these courses.
In 2014-15, NIIT unveiled its interesting and insightful MathLab Impact Study, which was conducted by one of the big four research agencies in 184 schools across 11 states in India. It indicated that Class X students from MathLab using schools performed distinctly better in Math at the board exam level, than students not exposed to MathLab. The Company had turned around the Skills and Careers business in FY 2016, driven by the Digital Renewal initiatives including DigiNxt and StackRoute. A scaling of DX investments created a demand for a new crop of talent that was equipped with advanced Digital skills. It therefore, compelled these organizations to take a serious view of reskilling existing manpower, or acquiring professionals well versed in Digital.
The Company in January 2018, acquired Eagle International Institute Inc. doing business as Eagle Productivity Solutions, through its wholly owned subsidiary NIIT (USA), Inc., a globally reputed company, which expanded training capability to cover rollouts of Cloud-based enterprise applications. During FY19, the business saw improvement in hiring environment in both the IT and Banking sectors.
The Company had acquired majority stake in RPS Consulting in October 2021. The Company saw the strategic demerger of NIIT in January, 2022 and implemented it in May, 2023. The said Demerger led to the establishment of two separate companies, NIIT Ltd and NIIT Learning Systems Ltd (NLSL).
In May 2023, the Scheme of Arrangement between the Company and NIIT Learning Systems Limited (NLSL) was made effective on May 24, 2023, where the CLG Business Undertaking got demerged from the Company and was transferred to and vested in NLSL effective from April 1, 2022. Post Demerger, all shareholders of the Company were allotted equal number of equity shares of NIIT Learning Systems Ltd, which got listed on both the stock exchanges respectively.
