Global private education provider, GEMS Education, is aiming to invest Rs 500 crore over the next three years to increase its presence through a network of owned, managed or leased schools in the country.
GEMS is also in talks with Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd (APIL) for leasing schools in some of the realty firm's townships across various cities.
"We are planning to increase the number of GEMS schools in India to 100 by March 2014. We will be investing around Rs 500 crore for expanding the number of schools in the country over the next three years," GEMS Education country head Ajey Kumar told PTI.
GEMS Education currently owns, manages or leases 17 schools in the country with half of them operational at present and the rest under construction.
"We are in talks for leasing multiple new schools in the next three years from Ansal Properties in some of its townships across metros and other cities in the country. We will be starting a state-of art school in Gurgaon from April 1, which has been leased from Ansal Properties through its group company Knowledge Tree Infrastructure Ltd (KTIL)," Kumar said.
However, he declined to give any financial details about GEMS deal with Ansal Properties.
The education provider has also initiated talks with other leading real estate companies as well for similar deals.