MBD Group To Invest In Virtual Reality Education Contents; To Set Up New Hospitality Chain Under Steigenberger JV

Delhi-based publisher and education company MBD Group is planning to enter virtual reality space in the education sector. The company, which will be investing about Rs 50 crore in this space over a period of three to five years, will produce 3D educational augmented reality and virtual reality videos and simulations for Kindergarten to Grade 12 school as well as vocational education.

The company claims that its high quality interactive content will be compatible with the best VR devices like Samsung Gear, Oculus Rift etc. Its packaged AR and VR based educational curriculum and content will help in keeping the students deeply engaged in the classroom, it will offer an immersive sense of place and time, whether historic or evolving. This will be a great way of learning, where the students can practically experience and bring their subjects to life, which traditional education couldn’t offer, says the company.

MBD’s digital content focus is at a time when the world education is set to see a revolutionary change using the high-end tools of information and communication technology. According to industry data, augmented reality and virtual reality market for the education sector is expected to reach $35 billion in the world by 2025.

“We plan to invest Rs 50 crore towards our expansion and launch of AR and VR educational content for students, which will be an extremely interesting way of learning things,” said Monica Malhotra Kandhari, managing director, MBD Group.

The sixty year-old Group, which is one of the leading and the oldest education companies in the country, is also making its direct entry into international markets including US, UK and China.

“I am really delighted to announce our group’s successful completion of 60 years, this year and it inspires me to set new milestones for the Group. I will make sure to retain the momentum and dynamism at MBD so that our Group scales remarkable heights in the years to come,” she added.

Started as a modest bookshop in Jalandhar in 1956, MBD Group has today transformed into an education company and it currently provides a wide range of education solutions and works with nearly 70,000 schools worldwide and caters to 50 million learners. The group is also offering its products and services to various other countries including international offices in South Africa and Sri Lanka.

In an unrelated development, MBD group’s hospitality arm has on Tuesday signed a joint venture with one of Europe’s leading hospitality company Steigenberger and is all set to launch its own hotel chain under MBD Steigenberger brand.

“We have been in the hospitality industry for over a decade and have successfully proven ourselves by excellence in the hospitality sector in Delhi and Punjab both on financial parameters and also overall guest experience,” Malhotra added.

This hospitality joint venture would target to open at least 20 hotels in India over the next 15 years. Our first property under this joint venture will be the iconic MBD Zephyr—an MBD Steigenberger Hotel in Bangalore, she said.