Preparations for CSE start in the first year of graduation. Many opt for coaching institutions to get right guidance but lakhs of students are unable to do so because of the huge cost. A Pioneer Avenues report

Quite often we hear civil services aspirants and toppers revealing that they stayed off all social media platforms for a considerable time as they prepared for the prestigious exams. But have you heard of aspirants getting hooked on to Instagram, of all platforms, for preparing for one of the most challenging entrance examinations in India?

“Well, nearly 3.50 lakh followers are doing just on the UPSC Guide page that started off as a simple idea on Instagram. “It is now one of the most favourite social media pages among UPSC aspirants,” says Abhijeet Nikam, founder, UPSC Guide.

UPSC Guide also disperses its various courses through video lectures, chatroom discussions, webinars, one-to-one assistance through Skype, phone and other social media handles.

“For many, preparations for the Civil Services Examinations (CSE) start in the very first year of their graduation itself. Many opt for prestigious coaching institutions to get the right guidance but lakhs of students are unable to do so because of the huge cost associated with these coaching institutions.

“To address this problem existing in the system Nikam Education OPC Pvt Ltd, under the brand name UPSC Guide, came up with the solution. In the era of e-learning, we thought what better for the IAS aspirants than an e-learning system where they can get the right guidance sitting at the comfort of their homes,” Nikam adds.

UPSC Guide is a complete e-learning system for UPSC CSE entrance examinations including both prelims and mains exam. It provides different kind of courses depending on the need of the aspirant. Getting into its courses is very simple. Just register on its website, select the preferred course for which payment is online and get started with its online coaching.

The vision behind UPSC Guide is to provide best quality courses to the UPSC aspirants while minimising the cost by approximately 80 per cent and also the time consumed which is a huge factor for these aspirants who shift their base to get into best quality coaching institutes.

Understanding its social responsibility and to help the less privileged aspirants, UPSC Guide provides the complete course, without compromising quality, free of cost to BPL and physically challenged candidates. Enticed by the innovative idea and quality of courses, many UPSC achievers have joined hands with UPSC Guide and provide guidance  to new aspirants through this platform.

Within six months of monetisation of UPSC Guide, it has been able to attract thousands of students and already 1600 students are registered under various categories of courses. “The idea was incepted from a simple Instagram page. UPSC Guide has now more than 343k followers on Instagram,” Nikam points out.

This is just the beginning or the first phase of services. Nikam says adding, “In the next phase, we are planning to provide online courses for various other government service examinations like IIT Entrance among others.”

Talking about the economic impact, Nikam says, “Within few months of monetisation, UPSC Guide has been able to generate good revenue, if we maintain the same quality, same pace, same revenue model and considering the kind of interest e-learning platforms are getting, we shall be able to generate revenue close to Rs 1000 crore by 2026.”

As the future of education lies in ever-upgrading technology and with huge shift towards e-learning platforms, UPSC Guide is a great platform for UPSC aspirants, Nikam outlines.