In 2014, a 23-year-old Alakh Pandey started teaching physics to a handful of students in a small rented room in Prayagraj at a mere cost of ₹50 per hour. With limited resources but unlimited determination, he borrowed ₹5,000 from his mother to buy a second-hand phone and began recording lessons. Equipped with a ₹300 tripod and a ₹200 microphone, he embarked on a mission to spread knowledge to the world.
Pandey declined advice from major coaching institutes, and he made a decision on a path to his own. In 2016 he founded the PhysicsWallah YouTube channel, motivated solely by a love of teaching rather than profit. His simple, relatable style rapidly caught on with students across India, creating a household name for him in the online education sector.
The PhysicsWallah that came out in 2016 has since become a huge educational platform. The YouTube channel currently has more than 15 million followers, and the app teaches 4 million paid students annually at a bargain price of ₹3,500. Even with bids of ₹1,000 crore for outright sale or breakup, Pandey kept his independence so that his mission of affordable learning remained the same.
PhysicsWallah is now worth around ₹23,000 crore, and Alakh Pandey's net worth as of 2025’s Hurun India Rich List is ₹14,510 crore—outracing Bollywood sensation Shah Rukh Khan whose net worth is ₹12,490 crore. His odyssey is also a testimony to the power of a middle-class teacher, motivated not by money but the dream of helping to shape children’s futures, to command both immense wealth and profound respect.
