Like them, many seem to have identified English as the means to get ahead in life. Pandering to this growing demand, a host of English coaching academies have sprung up in the city. Of the 100-odd such classes, at least 90 have opened shop in the last two years.

Elixir, the biggest of the lot, has 10 centres in Pune and one each in Satara, Karad and Solapur where over 1000 students learn to be phonetically correct. Chrysalis has grown from one to three centers in the last two years. Add to that the scores of ‘cottage units’ run from living rooms of city apartments and the platter gets full.

“I had predicted this boom 15 years ago. If I had the finances then, I would have been running 10 centres today and earning a packet," says Raj Mudliar who runs Hank Training Centre along in Vishrantwadi and puts the turnover of each of the big institutes to over Rs 1 lakh a month. Arun Sareen of CITIS that runs three English coaching centers in the city with classes on from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., says one needs to differentiate between the booming professional enterprises and teach-at-home centres run by pensioned hands though.

The fees vary from Rs 1,800-3000 a month, going up to Rs 5,000 for call centres.

“Students from mofussil areas with vernacular language background form the lion’s share. Then there are students from Iran, Africa and Korea who need to learn the language from the very basic level and those taking the IELTS," says Prashant Patel of Mind Speak Training Academy.

Then there are the corporate beginners looking to hone their presentation skills and housewives keen to help children with homework.

“Even a sales girl working in a mall feels out of place not knowing English," says Pratham Pendse of Mind Space.