punewith education emerging as one of the biggest business opportunities in the country the citys institutes are going all out to woo students through expensive advertising campaignsadvertising agencies estimate that educational institutes in pune are spending between rs 10 crore and 13 crore per annum to reach out to prospective students not only in pune but also elsewhere in the countryamong the biggest ad spenders is the symbiosis society which has 26 institutes and an annual ad budget of rs 15 crore in sharp contrast the university of punes annual ad budget is rs 25 lakhthe maharashtra institute of technology mit doubled its ad budget this year to rs 40 lakhlast year we spent about rs 10 lakh on educational exhibitions both in india as well as abroad participation in exhibitions helps market our name and rope in foreign students this year we plan to spend at least rs 20 lakh on exhibitions said mits executive director mangesh karadadvertising professionals say the aggressive promotional campaigns aimed at grabbing a share of the money available in the education market is a result of the escalating course fees and the mushrooming of institutesthe punemumbai belt has emerged as the educational capital of india and a considerable effort is being made by institutes in pune to tap the north indian market said vijay thombre director of advertising agency market missionariesmuch of the advertising is in newspapers and magazinesa very small percentage is spent on billboards and cable tv advertising thombre saidarun mudbidri director of the symbiosis institute of business management said his institute does not need to spend more than rs 2025 lakh on advertising per year as we have an established reputation we already have a brand name and in fact our website has emerged as a very effective tool of communicationaccording to him students dont go by advertisements but by the credibility of instituteshe admitted that there was a clear trend of advertising aggressively among educational institutes various bschools and coaching classes offering training and advice for going abroad are also advertising heavily mudbidri saidthe mit dina institute and an institute promising to provide training in foreign languages and computing are some of the prominent billboard advertisers in the city many of these advertisements are suddenly grabbing attention because they were never there before chandrakant kudal proprietor of asha publicity said