Promoters who want a recognised school brand in India usually ask for a "franchise". The word hides three different deals: a licence of the name and method, a management contract under which an operator runs the school, and a joint venture. They carry different fees, different controls and, in India, different legal limits. This article sets out what each involves, what the published legal guidance says, and one rule from CBSE that can decide which route is open to you.
Three ways a school brand comes to India
UK law firms advising independent schools on overseas expansion describe the same set of models. The table below sets them out and notes the main Indian issue for each. The management contract row is our own description, because the sources we read do not treat it as a separate model.
| Model | What the brand owner gives | What the local party does | Main Indian issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence or franchise | Name, crest, curriculum approach, materials and methods, with brand controls (HCR Law) | Provides capital, premises and operations. Pays licence or advisory fees, minimum annual payments or a revenue share (HCR Law) | CBSE rule on paying for a name. Not-for-profit ownership. Trade mark registration in India |
| Management contract (our description) | An operator runs the school day to day for the owner. Business Standard reports that operators are using management contracts and long-term leases to enter new markets | Owns the land and the school entity. Pays the operator as set out in the contract. We did not find published fee levels | What exactly is being paid for, and whether the owner stays in control of a not-for-profit school |
| Joint venture | Educational expertise, brand value and quality oversight (HCR Law) | A local institution or investor contributes land, capital or regulatory access (HCR Law) | Foreign investment rules and the not-for-profit structure |
| Advisory first | Curriculum support, leadership training, inspection preparation, with little use of the brand (HCR Law) | Operates alone and pays advisory fees | Lowest brand exposure. HCR Law describes it as a way to test demand |
Another UK firm, Fieldfisher, treats franchising and licensing as the same thing in this context, and lists the usual payments as initial fees, ongoing royalties or service fees, training revenue and sometimes consultancy or inspection fees. Neither firm gives percentages. We have not found a reliable public benchmark for royalty rates on school brands, and we do not offer one.
Do not negotiate on the label. Ask what each payment is for, what it is calculated on, and what the brand owner can inspect, approve and terminate.
The CBSE rule that shapes the deal
CBSE has restricted payments for the use of another institution's name for some years. A September 2013 news report said CBSE had amended its affiliation bye-laws so that schools paying for a franchiser's name, motto or logo, or for other non-academic activities, would have to submit an affidavit that they have no fee-bearing contract with the parent institute, or lose affiliation. CBSE has described such payments as commercialisation. A school's published CBSE affidavit shows the wording: it states that the school is not paying any charges towards using a name, motto, logo or other non-academic activities.
The rule came before the Patna High Court in Sarojani Educational Trust v CBSE, reported by LiveLaw on 1 May 2025. The report says the trust had paid for a school-brand franchise, then learned that CBSE's bye-laws bar commercialising education through such arrangements, and chose not to proceed. The report refers to a CBSE circular of 6 February 2014 requiring the affidavit, and records CBSE's counsel saying the bye-laws were amended in 2018. The court declined to order a blanket inquiry into every school under the brand. The trust alleged that a revised contract had dropped the word "franchisee". CBSE's counsel said it can act on specific material showing a violation, including money transactions.
The rule sits in CBSE's affiliation bye-laws, so it applies to CBSE-affiliated schools. We have not found an equivalent in IB or Cambridge requirements, but state law and the not-for-profit rules for schools still apply.
If the school will, or may later, seek CBSE affiliation, treat any brand fee as a legal question before it is a commercial one, and get counsel's written view. We do not give legal opinions, and this is a reason to involve counsel early, not a conclusion on any particular structure.
What else governs a brand deal in India
A law-firm guide from Anand and Anand (August 2024) says there is no franchise-specific law in India. It lists the general laws that apply, among them the Contract Act 1872, the Trade Marks Act 1999 and the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 with RBI rules. It says trade mark rights are territorial, so a foreign brand owner should register its marks in India, and it says royalty payments abroad currently fall under the automatic route. The guide predates this article by more than two years, so confirm the current position with counsel.
On the school side, the points that matter come from our earlier work. A not-for-profit school owner is not in the position of a commercial franchisee, which is why private equity usually backs a services company and not the school itself, as we set out in our note on private equity and non-profit schools. The owner entity itself is a separate decision: see Section 8 vs trust vs society.
What the brand owner will ask for
HCR Law (September 2026) and Fieldfisher (March 2026) set out the terms that brand owners typically insist on. For a local party, this is a list of what to expect and what to ask for in return:
- Brand controls: approval of curriculum and materials, senior appointments, inspection rights and reporting.
- Payment terms: what is payable before opening, what each payment is calculated on (gross revenue, net profit or pupil numbers), and what happens if the school opens late or misses its pupil numbers. HCR Law advises staging payments well before opening.
- Exclusivity: binding protection for the territory, set out early in the heads of terms.
- Termination and exit: rights on failure to meet milestones, and deadlock provisions in a joint venture.
- Intellectual property: the school name registered as a trade mark in India, with domain names, before substantive talks.
- Partner checks: HCR Law says meeting a partner is not due diligence. It lists independent checks on ownership, key individuals, litigation, regulatory penalties, land issues and local press.
The local owner has the same checks to make on the brand owner, in reverse. Ask for evidence of its other overseas schools, how they are governed, and how long each licence has run.
How the market is doing it
GEMS Education has said it will run owned campuses and a network of more than 1,000 partner schools in India, as Deccan Herald reports. Education adviser Roshan Gandhi wrote in EducationWorld (February 2023) that foreign trusts and corporates rarely run licensed schools themselves, and prefer local investors who supply land, buildings and staff and pay the brand a fee for educational services. He named two planned partnerships, between Harrow and Amity in Bengaluru and between Wellington College and Unison in Pune, and questioned how well a name can carry the ethos of the original school. In pre-school, Maple Bear's own India site claims more than 130 franchised businesses in India and South Asia. That figure is the company's claim and we have not verified it.
We have covered related cases in what it costs to bring a British school brand to India and how international schools gain a foothold.
The pattern is local capital plus a foreign brand, with the brand's role limited to standards and training. Whether a given fee structure sits inside CBSE's rule is the point to confirm with counsel.
Questions to settle before you sign
- Which board will the school hold, now and later? The answer changes which payments are open to you.
- What is each payment for? Brand, curriculum, training, management or inspection. Write it into the contract in those terms.
- Who owns the land and the school entity? This fixes who can sign, and what the not-for-profit rules allow.
- What can the brand owner inspect, approve and terminate? And what does the owner get in return?
- What happens if the school opens late or misses its numbers? Staged payments and milestone exits protect both sides.
- Is the name registered in India? If not, register first.
Common questions
What is the difference between a school licence and a school franchise?
Is there a franchise law in India?
Can a CBSE school pay for a brand name?
Weighing a brand partnership for a new school?
MAS Advisory is partner-led, start to finish. Talk to us before you sign heads of terms.
Sources: HCR Law, "International collaboration: legal and strategic considerations for UK independent schools" (14 September 2026); Fieldfisher, "From local school to global brand" (31 March 2026); LiveLaw report on Sarojani Educational Trust v CBSE, Patna High Court (1 May 2025); CBSE Affiliation Bye-Laws as reported by CBSEGuess (6 September 2013); a school's published CBSE self-affidavit; Anand and Anand, "Franchising: comparative guide" (Mondaq, 5 August 2024); Business Standard (22 July 2026); Deccan Herald on GEMS Education; EducationWorld (February 2023); Maple Bear South Asia website. We did not read the CBSE circular or bye-laws directly, because we could not access the CBSE site, so the CBSE position rests on the court report and the other sources above. General guidance only. We do not give tax or legal opinions; confirm current requirements with qualified counsel before acting.