Mr. Naveen Goyal, CEO and Founder of NoPaperForms, understands the transformative power of education, particularly for underserved communities. Growing up in a Tier 3 city, he experienced firsthand how limited opportunities and inefficient, paper-based administrative systems created barriers for students and institutions alike. This personal connection to the challenges of access and equity inspired him to create NoPaperForms—a platform designed to bridge these gaps and transform the education sector.
Today, NoPaperForms is playing a key role in India’s education revolution, addressing the needs of a rapidly expanding market projected to reach INR 25,000,000 million by FY28. With the Indian government striving to achieve a 50% Gross Enrollment Ratio in higher education by 2035, NoPaperForms’ flagship products, Meritto and Collexo, are helping over 1,200 institutions streamline operations, enhance student experiences, and scale efficiently. The company’s growth is equally remarkable, with a 26% year-on-year revenue increase and a 61% rise in new customers in the first half of FY25, highlighting its impact.
In this interview with TheCSRUniverse, Mr. Goyal shares his insights into how NoPaperForms is not only streamlining administrative processes and boosting student engagement but also democratizing access to education, especially for those in remote and resource-constrained regions.
Explore the interview below for a deeper dive into NoPaperForms' impact.
Q&A
Q. What inspired you to create NoPaperForms, and how did you identify the specific gaps in educational operations that your platform addresses?
A. After spending over a decade working closely with educational institutions, I observed a recurring challenge: the processes for student recruitment and enrollment were fragmented and inefficient. Manual data entry, lack of real-time communication, and disconnected systems created bottlenecks that frustrated both institutions and students. These inefficiencies often hindered growth, limited student engagement, and impacted outcomes.
This led to the creation of Meritto, our flagship product, which is designed as the Operating System for Student Recruitment and Enrollment. We envisioned a unified platform that could seamlessly manage the entire admission lifecycle, empowering institutions to focus on what truly matters—driving growth and improving student experiences.
By working directly with institutions and immersing ourselves in their challenges, we identified gaps in key areas such as inquiry management, application processing, and fee collection. These insights shaped Meritto and its ability to unify core solutions across organizations. Coupled with Collexo, our Unified Suite of Payments and Financial Products, we now offer India’s largest Vertical SaaS + Embedded Payments platform, enabling institutions to grow their revenue, optimize marketing spends, and deliver superior student outcomes.
Today, we’re proud to be focused on the student acquisition layer, and we’re driven by our vision to expand further across the entire student lifecycle—helping institutions thrive and students succeed.
Q. With India’s education sector poised for exponential growth, how do platforms like yours contribute to improving both the efficiency of administrative operations and the quality of the learning experience for students, especially in remote or resource-constrained areas?
A. India’s education sector is a hotbed of opportunity, but also complexity. The Union government’s goal to improve the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education to 50% by 2035 underscores the need for transformative solutions that can scale with demand while improving outcomes. Platforms like Meritto, our flagship product, play a pivotal role in enabling institutions to meet this challenge by not only optimizing operations but also driving growth.
Meritto empowers institutions to scale enrollments, predict cash flow, and make data-driven decisions that foster sustainable growth. By automating key processes like inquiry management, application tracking, and fee collection, we free up institutional bandwidth to focus on strategic initiatives. These efficiencies, combined with actionable insights, help institutions attract and enroll more students while enhancing financial predictability.
For remote or resource-constrained areas, Meritto’s cloud-based, digital-first platform eliminates barriers to entry. Smaller institutions can leverage the same advanced tools as their larger counterparts without the need for heavy IT investments. Our platform simplifies processes like fee payments and student engagement, ensuring students in underserved areas have equal access to education opportunities.
Beyond operational efficiency, platforms like Meritto foster growth by enabling institutions to nurture prospective students through personalized engagement. This not only enhances the student experience but also strengthens retention and academic outcomes. By addressing both institutional and student needs, Meritto helps bridge the gap between access and quality, making education a transformative force across the country.
Q. Beyond streamlining processes, how do your tools improve education access and quality, particularly for students in underserved regions?
A. I hail from a Tier 3 city, where opportunities and exposure were often limited. Growing up, I saw firsthand how access to education could transform lives, but also how systemic challenges—like geographical barriers and resource constraints—could hold students back. These experiences deeply shaped my perspective and inspired me to work on an idea that could bridge this gap, making quality education accessible to everyone, no matter where they come from.
At Meritto, our tools are designed with this mission at their core. Beyond simplifying processes for educational organizations, they democratize education by empowering institutions to extend their reach and engage with students in underserved regions. While institutions benefit from a digital-first enrollment system, imagine the immense value this brings to students in remote areas. Students can apply online, take tests, participate in group discussions and personal interviews, download offer letters, and so much more. This solves significant accessibility challenges, creating new opportunities for students who previously might not have had a chance.
And that’s just the beginning. Features in Collexo take things further by enabling students to access loans and other critical resources directly within the same enrollment portal where their journey starts. This seamless, integrated approach ensures students can move through the enrollment process with confidence and support, breaking down barriers every step of the way.
This commitment is deeply personal to me. Every time I see a student from a remote region accessing education through one of our partner institutions, I am reminded of my own journey and why I set out to build Meritto. Our mission is not just to streamline processes for organizations but to level the playing field for students, ensuring that no one is left behind—regardless of their circumstances or where they come from.
Q. Your international growth into Southeast Asia and the Middle East highlights NoPaperForms’ adaptability. What unique challenges and opportunities have you encountered in these markets, and how have these experiences informed your approach to solving issues in India’s education sector?
A. Expanding into Southeast Asia and the Middle East has been both rewarding and insightful. These regions share similarities with India, such as a strong demand for education and the complexity of administrative processes. However, they also bring unique challenges, including navigating diverse regulatory frameworks, understanding cultural expectations, and addressing the varying levels of digital adoption.
While it has been only a couple of quarters since we began our international journey, we’ve been fortunate to onboard over 40 marquee accounts—leading educational organizations in these regions. This early success reflects not only the relevance of our platform but also the adaptability we’ve built into our solutions.
One key learning has been the need for localized solutions. For example, we integrated region-specific payment methods and customized workflows to align with local operational norms. These adaptations have not only driven success in international markets but have also provided invaluable insights that inform our approach back home in India.
Q. How does enhancing data management and student engagement reshape the student experience and influence retention and outcomes?
A. At Meritto, our Enrollment Cloud empowers institutions to adopt a truly student-centric approach. By providing a 360-degree view of the student lifecycle—from inquiry to graduation—we enable institutions to personalize engagement, address concerns proactively, and identify at-risk students early. This holistic perspective is integral to transforming how institutions interact with students, ensuring no one slips through the cracks.
Our platform supports over 1 billion student engagements annually, processing 100 million inquiries and managing 5 million applications on average every year.
Enhanced engagement tools within the Enrollment Cloud, such as real-time activity alerts and contextual nurturing campaigns, help institutions create deeper connections that directly boost satisfaction and retention. Leveraging these tools, institutions can act on data-driven insights to foster meaningful relationships, improve support services, and ultimately shape better academic outcomes.
Complementing this is Collexo, our Payment Cloud, which adds another dimension to student engagement by streamlining fee collection and management. By handling processes for over 50,000 business users annually, Collexo ensures that institutions can automate reminders, offer flexible payment options, and maintain transparent reconciliation workflows. This not only eases financial stress for students but also ensures timely collections, improving institutional cash flow predictability.
Together, Meritto and Collexo transform data management and engagement into tools for long-term success, influencing retention rates and driving superior student outcomes while aligning institutional goals with the needs of their learners.
Q. Can you share specific stories where NoPaperForms has helped institutions solve critical issues in student recruitment, enrollment, or fee management?
A. One of our standout success stories comes from a higher education institution that struggled with fragmented recruitment and enrollment processes, leading to inefficiencies and lost leads. By adopting our Enrollment Cloud, they unified their student recruitment funnel—from inquiry to enrollment—on a single platform. With automated workflows, real-time communication tracking, and insightful analytics, the institution achieved a 30% increase in lead-to-enrollment conversions within just two admission cycles.
Additionally, their admissions team reported a 40% boost in productivity, allowing them to focus more on building meaningful relationships with prospective students.
On the fee management side, one of our K-12 clients faced significant challenges with late payments and cumbersome reconciliation processes. By leveraging our Payment Cloud, they automated fee reminders, introduced flexible payment options, and gained access to real-time settlement reports. As a result, their on-time payment rate improved by 35%.
These examples highlight the tangible impact NoPaperForms has on not just operational efficiency but also on enabling institutions to deliver a seamless and student-centric experience.
Q. How do you ensure your solutions adapt to the evolving needs of educational institutions, and what feedback has been most transformative for your product development?
A. Our solutions have been co-created in close collaboration with our clients, and we take immense pride in the fact that Meritto and Collexo are not just products we built but platforms shaped by the insights, needs, and suggestions of over 1,200 institutions. From admissions teams to finance departments, stakeholders across different institutions have been instrumental in guiding the development of features that address real-world challenges.
For instance, 40% of Collexo’s features—including refund management, flexible payment plans, and split payments—were directly shaped by user feedback. Similarly, the design and functionality of tools like Zing, which provides real-time nudges, and CalendarPro, which simplifies event management, reflect the evolving priorities of our partner institutions. These tools were not just launched in response to market trends but built to solve specific pain points identified by our clients.
We ensure our solutions remain relevant and impactful by fostering an ongoing dialogue with our users. Through regular webinars, community forums, and certification programs, we stay connected to their evolving needs. This collaborative approach enables us to remain agile, rolling out updates and new products that help institutions stay ahead of challenges and focus on driving better outcomes for their students.
At its core, our approach to product development is not just about creating tools but about building long-term partnerships that ensure institutions and students thrive together.
Q. Despite the growing adoption of technology, the education sector still faces challenges such as unequal access, digital illiteracy, and cultural resistance. How does NoPaperForms address these systemic barriers while also democratizing access, improving learning outcomes, and driving systemic transformation in the sector?
A. This is a challenge we are deeply committed to addressing. From day one, our mission has been to make education more accessible and equitable, irrespective of geography or resources.
Digital literacy is another barrier we actively tackle through community-driven initiatives like #EvolveByMeritto and #EnrollymicsByMeritto certification programs that empower institutions to embrace technology confidently. For cultural resistance, we’ve taken a collaborative approach—listening closely to feedback, adapting our tools to local needs, and building trust with institutions by showcasing measurable outcomes.
At its heart, our platform doesn’t just simplify processes; it transforms lives. By making processes like applications, scholarships, and counseling easily accessible, we help institutions reach underserved students who might have otherwise fallen through the cracks. We don’t see technology as a replacement for human connection but as an enabler to amplify its impact.
Our goal is systemic transformation—not just for individual institutions but for the education sector as a whole—empowering every stakeholder with the tools they need to drive progress. That’s the vision that inspires us every single day.
Q. With the rapid evolution of education technology, what trends or innovations do you see shaping the future of the sector, and how is NoPaperForms preparing to lead this transformation? What are your future goals?
A. The future of education technology lies in personalization, automation, and data-driven decision-making. Trends like AI-driven engagement, predictive analytics, and embedded payment solutions are already reshaping the landscape. At NoPaperForms, we are investing in AI tools to provide real-time insights and personalized student journeys. Our goal is to further expand our ecosystem with products that enhance every touchpoint of running and growing an educational organization from enrollment to lifecycle, advancement to finance, and beyond with a unified, purpose built SaaS platform. In the next few years, we aim to deepen our global footprint even further with our transformative solutions for the education sector.
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