Maple Bear Franchise Cost in India: Rs 30-50 Lakh Headline, Rs 31 Lakh in Line Items
Maple Bear's brochure headlines Rs 30-50 lakh, but its own line items add to about Rs 30.5-32 lakh before GST. What the 15% royalty on gross revenue means, and what the brand does not publish.
Maple Bear's franchise brochure says a preschool needs an initial investment of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, with a franchise fee of Rs 5 lakh plus GST and a royalty of 15% on gross revenue. The brochure's own cost lines (fee, set-up, local expenses) add up to about Rs 30.5 to 32 lakh, so up to Rs 18 lakh of the headline range is not explained anywhere we could find. Below is what Maple Bear publishes, what we worked out ourselves, and what to ask before signing anything.
The cost lines in Maple Bear's brochure
We re-read the brochure and the franchise landing page on 13 November 2026 and compared them with the checked Maple Bear listing. The brochure gives three cost lines for a preschool:
| Item | What the brochure states |
|---|---|
| Franchise fee | Rs 5 lakh + GST |
| Initial school infrastructure set-up | Rs 13.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh |
| Local expenses | Rs 12 lakh (carries an asterisk) |
| Our sum of the three | Rs 30.5 lakh to Rs 32 lakh, before GST |
| Headline initial investment | Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh |
The brochure also says the investment is "subject to the condition of the property". It describes a greenfield build (a school from zero) and a brownfield option (rent an existing building and renovate to the brand's guidelines), and calls brownfield "more cost-effective".
Where the missing Rs 18 lakh could sit
The low end of the headline matches the line items almost exactly. The high end does not. The brochure never says which line moves with the property, so the gap could be a heavier fit-out, a bigger local-expenses budget or something not itemised. We cannot tell, and the brand does not say.
Ask for it in writing.
The footnote on the Rs 12 lakh local-expenses line is not shown in the brochure text we could read, so ask what it covers: rent deposit, salaries before enrolment fills, marketing, licences. At the usual 18% GST rate, the Rs 5 lakh fee alone adds about Rs 90,000, which pushes the line-item total to roughly Rs 31.4 to 32.9 lakh. Other pages complicate the picture further. The Ghaziabad page lists "40-70 Lakhs (Pre+Elementary)" as a format, and the landing page's enquiry form offers bands of 30-35, 35-40 and 40 lakh and above. Those are form options and not published prices, but they show the Rs 30 lakh starting point applies to the preschool only.
What a 15% royalty means in rupees
The brochure says "15% on gross revenue". That means 15 paise of every rupee the school bills, before rent, salaries or any other cost. It does not say whether the royalty is charged monthly or annually, or whether GST-inclusive collections count. Maple Bear publishes no revenue per school, so the table below is plain arithmetic at example sales levels, not a forecast.
| Yearly school revenue (example) | 15% royalty to the brand |
|---|---|
| Rs 60 lakh | Rs 9 lakh |
| Rs 1 crore | Rs 15 lakh |
| Rs 1.5 crore | Rs 22.5 lakh |
Because the royalty is taken from revenue and not from profit, it is owed in a month where the school loses money. That is the part of a gross-revenue royalty that matters most while enrolment is still building.
Space, time and the break-even claim
The Ghaziabad page asks for "approximately 3500 sq. ft." with "5 to 6 well-ventilated classrooms" and a play area. The landing page says "3000+" sq ft, so confirm the minimum for your city. The landing page also says the agreement is "typically 7 years, renewable" and that launch takes "typically 6-12 months from signing".
On returns, the two pages disagree. The brochure says operational break-even "takes around 15 to 18 months" and that return on investment begins after two years of operations, both marked with asterisks. The landing page says "usually within 18-24 months for preschools". These are brand claims with no school-level numbers behind them. If you take the longest versions at face value, 6 to 12 months to launch plus 15 to 24 months to break even puts break-even somewhere between 21 and 36 months after signing, and that is before your own salary or any loan interest.
How big the network really is
The brand's pages give several totals. The landing page says "130+" schools across South Asia in one place and "150+ in South Asia" in another, and "650+" schools globally. The brochure says "450+" schools worldwide. On 2 November 2026 we counted the school records behind Maple Bear's own find-a-school page: 94 schools tagged India (45 of them in Bengaluru, across 34 cities) and 7 more in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. That is 101 records against a claim of 130 or more, and we cannot say what accounts for the difference. Treat the claimed totals as marketing until a current school list backs them.
Who you are signing with
Maple Bear South Asia describes itself as a collaboration between Maple Bear Global Schools Ltd. of Canada and Modi Edutech of the Modi Group. The brochure says Brazil's Grupo SEB acquired Maple Bear in 2020 and took full control in 2024, which matches Brazilian press coverage of SEB buying the remaining 30% in mid-2024. None of the pages we read names the Indian company that signs the franchise agreement and receives the royalty. Ask for the exact legal entity, its CIN and the trademark licence behind it before paying the fee.
For context, two other preschool brands on FranchiseChuno publish lower totals on their own franchise pages: Kidzee at Rs 15 to 16 lakh and EuroKids at Rs 15 to 20 lakh. Our checked listings for those two carry no published royalty rate, so the 15% figure is not directly comparable yet. Our Kidzee and EuroKids comparison covers what is and is not published for them.
Questions buyers ask
How much does a Maple Bear franchise cost in India?
The brochure headline is Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for a preschool, plus GST on the Rs 5 lakh fee. Its itemised lines total about Rs 30.5 to 32 lakh, and the brand does not explain the rest of the range.
What royalty does Maple Bear charge?
15% on gross revenue, per the brochure. The billing period and whether GST is included are not stated.
How long until a Maple Bear school breaks even?
The brand claims 15 to 18 months in its brochure and 18 to 24 months on its landing page. No school-level figures are published to support either.
To see the full set of checked terms and the evidence behind each figure, open the Maple Bear listing and use the enquiry button there.