new delhi idp and british council two partners of ielts the worlds most popular highstakes english language test have announced today that british council will sell its ielts business in india to idpthis means that all ielts tests in india will be delivered by idpunder the terms of the agreement idp will acquire 100 per cent of british councils india ielts business for 130 million on a debt free cash free basis the terms also outline that british council employees working on ielts in india will become part of the idp team the transaction is subject to customary conditions with completion expected to occur in augustthe international english language testing system or ielts is the worlds most popular english language test for study and migration and is trusted by more than 10000 organisations around the world as a secure and reliable indicator of english language proficiencyone of the key benefits of this sale is that customers will see continuity of the test they know and trustandrew barkla ceo of idp said this agreement marks the start of a new chapter for ielts in indiaby bringing together two expert teams test takers can feel confident they are getting the best experience possible when taking their worldleading test mr barkla saidour test takers can focus on preparing for their test as planned and our team is here to make sure everything goes smoothly on test day he saidielts 30year history and global partnership model means it has globallystandardised quality and integrity processes already built into every centres operations he addedbarkla said this agreement will help many people in india reignite their global goalsthis agreement will see us move forward with expert teams a strong strategy and a large geographic footprint across india he saidtogether we are wellplaced to help more people in india take the first step in achieving their global study work and career ambitionskate ewartbiggs interim ceo of british council reiterated its commitment to its broader services in indiadistributing ielts solely through idp in india will simplify and improve the customer experience for ielts test takers as idp already delivers ielts in india the highquality service provided to ielts customers will remain the sameto ensure we could continue to deliver on our global cultural relations mission we explored strategic options for the english examinations business with idp in india in 2020 the proceeds of the sale will enable british council to improve its financial position following the impact of covid19 on our finances ewartbiggs saidour wider british council work will continue in india we remain committed to realising our goal of building trust and understanding between the united kingdom and india through arts education assessment and the english languagewe would like to recognise the hard work of our staff across india who have worked tirelessly for many years and especially throughout the covid19 pandemic it is our leading british council ielts teams in india now transitioning to idp who put their heart and soul into delivering safe and trusted testing