Skip to Content

Alakh Pandey

Indian educator, entrepreneur, and billionaire founder and CEO of Physics Wallah (PW)
25 August 2026 by
Vriksh Insights Network
| No comments yet

Lead

Alakh Pandey is a famous Indian educator, businessman, and the founder and CEO of Physics Wallah or PW, which is one of the most popular and inexpensive educational platforms in India. His nickname among the nation’s students is Alakh Sir. The inspiring story of Alakh Pandey and his extraordinary journey from an ordinary student to the successful entrepreneur who created one of the largest educational organisations in the country is definitely worth sharing. Let’s take a closer look at his biography, major achievements, and current status as an influential business leader and an inspirational speaker in India.

Alakh Pandey was born in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. He had humble beginnings as a child from a poor family, and he had to support his family by teaching small groups of children while still being a student himself. Although he eventually managed to get enrolled in an engineering college, he had to drop out in his third year because of poverty. Luckily, Alakh Pandey had plenty of motivation to pursue his educational goals, so in 2014, he decided to start his YouTube channel Physics Wallah, where he began to provide high-quality and easy-to-understand physics lessons for free. He chose to make core physics subjects more approachable and understandable, and JEE and NEET candidates were his target audience. Subsequently, his YouTube channel became extremely popular among Indian students, attracting millions of subscribers.

Soon enough, in 2020, Alakh Pandey’s brainchild, the Physics Wallah company, was officially launched. The mission of the platform was to offer a wide range of high-quality and affordable educational resources to Indian students. In terms of its educational services, PW provides training for school students, aspiring professional students who wish to enter the Indian Institute of Technology or medical colleges, as well as those who want to acquire new skills in spheres like coding and data science. Today, Physics Wallah has millions of registered users on his online platform as well as offline centers across the country.

The successful business venture by Alakh Pandey enabled him to enter the World’s Billionaires Club in 2026. According to Forbes’ net worth ranking, his assets sum up to 1 billion dollars, or, in terms of Indian Rupees, 8300 crore.

Alakh Pandey is a well-known example of a successful Indian entrepreneur who has managed to create a sustainable business empire in the field of educational services. A former dropout from engineering college who started tutoring his peers and younger students from his own home became a multi-millionaire businessman and philanthropist. His story has become a source of inspiration for millions of young Indians who aspire to become tutors themselves or simply receive the best quality of education.

Early Life and Education

Alakh Pandey was born in Prayagraj (earlier Allahabad) in Uttar Pradesh on 2nd October 1991. He belonged to an orthodox family, where his parents struggled financially with a lot of economic hardships. These struggles inspired the young boy to become a mentor and guide for people so that they can overcome financial barriers and focus on their studies. His own personal struggles in younger days made a major impact on his future career and ambitions. Alakh Pandey strongly believes in the ideology that most of the students in different parts of our country cannot afford good education because of expensive coaching institutes and study materials. This is how his journey started by giving affordable education to economically backward students. A big vision, hard work, and dedication towards the upliftment of economically backward students made Alakh Pandey popular as the creator of Physics Wallah.

Alakh Pandey is one of the most well-known educators among various students in India. He is well-known for making the education of our country more accessible and less expensive. The main mission of his educational platform, Physics Wallah, is to provide quality education regarding physics, chemistry, and other subjects to economically backward students. Students love his teaching methodologies and style of communication as he makes them more comfortable with the subject. Alakh Pandey has been an inspiration to a lot of young and aspiring teachers who want to make a difference in the education sector. His journey from being an economically backward student to a famous educator motivates students and young professionals that dedication and hard work can achieve anything in this competitive world.

  • Full Name: Alakh Pandey
  • Nick Name(s): Alakh Sir, Physics Wallah (PW)
  • Profession(s): EdTech Entrepreneur, Educator, Founder & CEO of Physics Wallah
  • Date of Birth: October 2, 1991
  • Height: 5'7" (170 cm)
  • Weight: ~75 kg (165 lbs)
  • Eye Colour: Dark Brown
  • Hair Colour: Black
  • Home Town: Prayagraj (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India (Currently based in Noida)
  • School: Bishop Johnson School, Prayagraj
  • College: Harcourt Butler Technical University (HBTU), Kanpur
  • Education Qualification: Mechanical Engineering Dropout (Left in his 4th year to pursue teaching full-time)
  • Religion: Hinduism
  • Food Habit: Vegetarian
  • Relationship: Married
  • Marital Status: Married (To journalist and content creator Shivani Dubey)
  • Siblings: One elder sister (Aditi Pandey)
  • Language Known: Hindi and English
  • Email ID: alakh.pandey@pw.live (Corporate executive email strictly for official corporate inquiries, institutional partnerships, and board-level communications)

Early Life and Financial Struggles

  • Humble Background: Pandey’s father, Satish Pandey, was a contractor. His mother, Rajat Pandey, was a teacher.
  • Loss of Assets: Since there were severe financial problems during his younger days, he started selling his house’s portion to have some money to live on. Consequently, his family moved to a small rented house in a slum.
  • Early Tutoring: Alakh Pandey started tutoring a few children in the third standard to help his family by paying his school fees as he studied in the ninth standard. In the 11th standard, he started to take whole batches from various local coaching centres.

Education and Schooling

  • Schooling: He studied in Bishop Johnson School, Prayagraj. Despite being from a poor family, he was an extremely intelligent student securing 93.5% marks in 10th board exams and 85% marks in 12th board exams.
  • Engineer’s Dream: He had dreamt of cracking the toughest exam, IIT-JEE and prepare himself for the same but couldn’t afford the coaching institutes which made him prepare himself for the exam on his own.

College and Decision to Drop Out

  • College Enrolment: In 2011, he got admitted to the Harcourt Butler Technical University (HBTU) in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, for a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Mechanical Engineering.
  • The Turning Point: During his studies, he became disappointed with the memorisation-based education system as well as the out-dated syllabus of engineering. His interest in teaching grew considerably when he started to teach students in Prayagraj on weekends.
  • Dropping Out: In 2014, he dropped out of college (it was his 4th year in the 5 th year of the course) and went back home to be a full-time physics teacher. This decision opened the door to the Physics Wallah creation.

Physics Wallah

Physics Wallah also called PW, emerged as one of India’s leading education technology companies. It was initially launched by Alakh Pandey on a small scale. He would upload physics and chemistry tutorials on his YouTube channel. Students would gather around his screen and learn difficult concepts explained to them like one would explain to a friend. In 2020, Alakh, with the help of his partner Prateek Maheshwari, took his venture to the next level by transforming his YouTube channel into a company. From then on, everything started to change. Physics Wallah, which mainly provided free lectures, evolved into a comprehensive educational platform. It started to offer courses ranging from school education to competitive exams and skill development. The company is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It primarily offers online courses but also has offline centers, hybrid programs, and other offerings. It focuses on democratising quality and affordable education for all students, regardless of their social background.

In November 2025, Physics Wallah took its venture to the next level as well by going public. The company’s stock debuted on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. It raised nearly 3,480 crores or 360 million dollars via an initial public offering. The news not only stunned the business world but also common people. After all, one of the most successful YouTube channels not only made billions but also went public in the recent past.

Recently, the company reported record revenues. It earned over 1,053 crores in revenue in the first quarter of the 2027 financial year. This success came after years of uninterrupted growth in online and offline enrolments. These days, Physics Wallah focuses on launching new centers, as well as developing and providing new technologies to its teaching staff. All in all, this company has come a long way since Mr. Pandey started uploading lectures on his YouTube channel. And it still has much to achieve in the future.

Business Framework & Verticals

Unlike their competitors who go for high-end subscriptions, Physics Wallah is a high-volume, low-margin business that targets to serve millions of students across India.
  • PW Test-Prep App: It is the company’s digital arm that provides live interactive classes, doubt sessions, notes, and tests for IIT-JEE, NEET, UPSC, SSC, CAT, and other competitive exams.
  • PW Vidyapeeth: An online plus offline network of teaching centers spread across the country, including Kota, Delhi, Bengaluru, offering high-quality education with physical classrooms in hundreds of learning centers across India.
  • Vernacular & K-12 Segment: It targets to provide primary and secondary education in several Indian regional languages and has seen explosive growth in recent years.
  • Upskilling and Corporate Tech: The company has also expanded its corporate training division and offers courses in computer science, AI, data science, and banking exams.

Financial Snapshot & Stock Status

Since its public listing in late 2025, the company has demonstrated a steady progression in its financial performance after the initial public offering (IPO).
  • IPO Performance: The initial public offering (IPO) price of the company’s shares was set at ₹109 per piece, and the stock started its journey in the secondary market at a premium of ₹145 per share.
  • Treasury and Growth Projections: With a substantial treasury worth ₹5,601 crore, the management expects to report a revenue growth of 30% in FY27 while maintaining a conservative burn rate of cash.
  • Profitability Outlook: The platform’s profitability came on stream in mid-2026 and is projected to report net income from operations in the consolidated results.

Signature Annual Events

The platform is connected to the student community through its highly publicised annual mega events:
  • Vishwas Diwas: This year’s event on Feb 28 will have extreme enrolment benefits like crazy batch discounts, loads of rewards, and also release the roadmap for next year.
  • GOAT Sale: It is a GOAT student exclusive sale during which bundled tests, question banks, and online premium courses are available at insane discounts to help low-income communities.


Sign in to leave a comment
Arpit Sharma
A popularly known by his digital handle @iarpitspeaks