When I was in third grade, half of the house was sold. By the time I reached sixth grade, the entire house was sold. The family was struggling with poverty. The income was so low that even the household expenses could not be covered. My father was a construction contractor, and was incurring continuous losses in his business. Today the son of that family has achieved remarkable success. Due to years of poverty, that son’s name is Alakh Pandey. Alakh Pandey needs no introduction today. He can be called the true son of the earth.
Actually, Physics Wala’s IPO has opened and investors can invest in it till 13th November. Physicswala is owned by Alakh Pandey. He is one of the top 10 youngest billionaires in the country and now his company is about to enter the stock market. Physicswala is preparing to raise a total of ₹3,480 crore from its IPO. The price band of the IPO is between ₹103 to ₹109. At the upper price band of the IPO, the company is valued at around ₹31,500 crore.
33-year-old Alakh Pandey has been making headlines for two consecutive years by featuring in the top 10 billionaires in the Hurun India Rich List (Hurun India Rich List 2025). Alakh Pandey’s wealth has increased to ₹14,510 crore in Hurun India Rich List (Hurun India Rich List 2025). Alakh is the co-founder of edtech startup Physicswala. His story from poverty to wealth is quite interesting.
Childhood spent in financial crisis
When Alakh Pandey was in sixth class, his house in South Malaka area of Prayagraj was sold. Recalling that period, Alakh Pandey himself repeatedly says, “Our financial condition was so bad that while studying in eighth grade, I started giving tuition to children up to fifth grade.” His mother was a teacher in a private school, while his sister also supported the household by giving tuitions.
In his early days, Alakh Pandey used to earn around Rs 5,000 per month by teaching tuition. While teaching, he focused on his studies, worked hard and obtained a B.Tech degree. After completing his studies, an idea came to his mind that changed his entire life. While teaching children, Alakh Pandey thought of creating a YouTube channel and in 2017, along with his partner Prateek Maheshwari, he opened a YouTube channel named “Physics Wala”. Today Prateek Maheshwari is also a millionaire.
Meanwhile, two things happened in 2017. First, affordable 4G service arrived in India. Second, Alakh’s strategy changed. Alakh himself had studied from ICSE board. He was well aware that the students studying in this board come from affluent backgrounds and there was no specific study material available for them on the internet. Alakh focused on these students and soon saw positive results. In 2018, Alakh received his first check of Rs 8,000 from YouTube. By this time, his channel had approximately 50,000 subscribers.
Students loved his videos on this channel and each of his lecture videos got millions of views. Subsequently, Alakh developed a mobile app through which students could take online coaching classes at very low fees. Within no time, Physicswala’s YouTube channel gained 69 lakh subscribers and 50 lakh app downloads. In 2020, Physicswala was incorporated under the Companies Act.
Job offer worth lakhs rejected
When Alakh Pandey was working on his idea, he received many lucrative job offers, including jobs worth lakhs of rupees per month. It is noteworthy that Alakh Pandey had received an offer of Rs 4 crore from Unacademy, but he wanted to do something different himself, so he rejected it. Established to provide quality education to all at low budget, this coaching institute has become a well-known name among the aspirants of competitive exams. The credit for Alakh Pandey’s success also goes to his colleague Prateek Maheshwari, who has an engineering degree from IIT BHU.