Synopsis: A B2B platform connecting students, agents and universities across the globe has quietly built profits at a blistering pace. With new markets opening up and old ones getting shaky, what lies ahead?
Getting into a foreign university is not easy. Behind the scenes, a network of agents, universities and students works together to make this happen. One company runs the technology platform that connects all three. It has grown its profits sharply over the years and just posted another strong quarter. But it depends heavily on one country, and that is now changing.
Shares of Crizac Limited, with a market capitalization of Rs. 3,508 Crore, closed at Rs.200 i.e. around 0.47% above its previous closing price of Rs.199.14. It trades at a P/E ratio of 15.9.
A Good Year for Crizac
Crizac Limited helps students go abroad for studies. It connects agents, students and universities using its own technology platform. In FY26, the company earned Rs 1,042 crore in revenue, up 22.7% from last year. The last quarter alone brought in Rs 391.7 crore, which was 15% higher than the same quarter last year.
Profit grew even faster than revenue. EBITDA, which shows how much money the company makes from its core business, rose 31% to Rs 282.4 crore. Net profit rose 41% to Rs 219.1 crore for the full year. In the fourth quarter, profit jumped 50% compared to last year.
The company has no debt at all. It has Rs 467.4 crore sitting in cash. This means Crizac does not need to borrow money to grow. Its return on equity was 37.2%, which shows the business earns a lot of profit compared to what shareholders have put in. Over the past five years, sales have grown at a compounded rate of 56%, while profit has grown even faster at 60%, showing that Crizac has managed to expand its bottom line quicker than its top line.
Why the Company Wants to Expand
Crizac was started in Kolkata in 2011. Today, its platform connects over 15,000 agents and more than 400 universities around the world. Students from 85-plus countries use this network to apply to universities in eight destination countries. In FY26, the company processed almost 3.94 lakh applications, up 43% from the year before.
The company also bought a few businesses this year to grow faster. It acquired a student recruitment agency in Latin America, took a stake in a counseling firm in India, and put money into an AI project that helps match students to universities. It also set up a new team in New Zealand to start operations there.
The reason behind all this expansion is simple. Right now, almost 97% of Crizac’s business comes from just one country, the UK. If anything changes there, like a new visa rule, it could hurt the company badly. So Crizac wants to bring this number down to below 60% in the next two years by growing in countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US.
A Closer Look at Conversion Rates
Not every application turns into an enrolled student, and this ratio changes by country. Management shared that India converts around 10% of its applications into actual enrollments, China and Latin America convert closer to 20%, while Africa sees a lower conversion rate of around 5%. This mix explains why applications grew a sharp 43% during the year while enrollments grew only 14%. As Crizac adds more students from higher-converting regions like China, this gap between application growth and enrollment growth could narrow over time.
What Could Go Wrong
Not everything is smooth. Some countries like the US and Canada have made their visa rules stricter, which is pushing students towards other countries instead. The ongoing conflict in West Asia has also hurt the company’s business from that region.
A stronger pound helped boost profit margins this quarter, but the company itself said this benefit will not last forever.
Because of all this uncertainty, the company has decided not to give a clear growth target for next year yet. It said it will share this after one more quarter, once things become clearer. However, the board did announce a dividend of Rs 8 per share, showing confidence in its cash position.
About the Company
Crizac Limited is a company based in Kolkata that connects students, agents and universities for study-abroad programs. It runs an online platform where agents can help students apply to foreign universities. The company mainly works with universities in the UK but is now trying to grow in other countries too.
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