This Ashish Kacholia-owned education stock has zoomed over 69% in 3 days

Shares of NIIT moved higher by 19% to Rs 139 on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade, zooming 69 per cent in the past three trading days

Shares of NIIT moved higher by 19 per cent to Rs 139 on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade amid heavy volumes, in an otherwise subdued market, on expectation of strong earnings growth in the July-September quarter (Q2-FY24).

In the past three trading days, the stock of education company has zoomed 68.6 per cent from a level of Rs 82.43 touched on Friday, September 8. The stock had turned ex-record date for the demerger of its Corporate Learning Business from NIIT Learning Systems on June 8, 2023.

At 10:33 AM, NIIT was quoting 16 per cent higher at Rs 136, as compared to 0.08 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 11 million equity shares have, thus far, changed hands on the NSE and BSE.

Ace investor Ashish Kacholia owned 3 million, or 2.23 per cent stake, in NIIT at the end of the June quarter, shareholding pattern data shows.

Meanwhile, the management said during its Q1-FY24 earnings call that it expects strong growth in Q2 and the rest of the year, driven by the significant mandates received for training especially in BFSI and advanced technology programs. "We are experiencing an increased demand for deep skilling in new age skills including Artificial intelligence (AI), Digital Architect, ER&D, and Cybersecurity, among other," the management had said.

On future outlook, NIIT, in its FY23 annual report, said that training for Digital Skills in India represents a multibillion--dollar training opportunity.

With a young population (about 600 million people less than 25 years old), large and growing enrollments in higher education (over 41 million learners enrolled in Higher Education with 27.1 per cent gross enrolment ratio (GER) growing to 50 per cent GER by AY35), and proficiency in English, India is expected to be the hub of global demand for talent.

"In addition, a strong demand is expected for continuous skill upgradation for working professionals due to increasing digitalisation across sectors (Technology, Fintech, HealthTech, Logistics, EdTech, etc., as well as user industries where technology proficiency will be a key competitive advantage)," the company said.

Over the next few years, Artificial Intelligence is expected to drive massive changes in ways of working across industries including education. The company plans to leverage this opportunity, both by offering training in AI and by harnessing AI’s potential to amplify learning outcomes.