‘CUET, JEE bring in real crowds': How this Outer Delhi village turned entrance exams into business opportunity

Indian Express

05-06-2025

'Kripya candidate dhyaan de! Pehle apne center ka naam check kare, fir apna document check kare. Uske baad apna bag, mobile, aur keemti saman andar jama karwaye. Token lena zaruri hai. Baahar kisi ki behkawe mein mat aaye! (Candidates, please pay attention… first check your centre's name, and documents… then submit your belongings and get tokens. Beware of fraud outside!)'
The loudspeaker blares across an otherwise silent, sun-bleached street flanked by carrot and wheat fields. A white building stands in the middle, where the announcement repeats in a loop.
Located near the Delhi-Haryana border, this exam centre in Sawda village sees at least 600 aspiring candidates show up almost every day for various exams. For the last few days, the humble village in Outer Delhi has seen swathes of high-school graduates flocking for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), which is conducted by the National Testing Agency for various undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes.
Almost overnight, the 200-metre stretch of road in front of the exam centre — Ganga International School — has transformed into a hub catering to the needs of the aspirants.
E-rickshaws idle near the school gates, ready to pick up and drop off candidates at the nearest Metro station 4 km away. Carts selling kulfi, sweet lime juice, and lemonade have lined up for a cold and sweet treat in the sweltering humidity. Hand-painted banners, advertising accommodation options, have been placed near the centre — 'Rooms hi rooms!'. Each one tries to beat the other's cheap fare.
This part of Sawda, locals say, has recently explored a self-sustaining world of its own.
'Entrance exams like CUET, Railways, and SSCGD (Staff Sele-ction Commission General Duty) bring in the real crowds,' says Lokesh Dalal, a 20-year-old who has turned his uncle's plot of land into a parking lot where he allows visitors to park their vehicles.
Near the edge of the land parcel stands a small room with a wooden table. Here, Dalal operates a printer for last-minute emergencies of candidates if they need to get a copy of the admit card.
Dalal claims he has been observing the student crowd for the last four years, ever since the exam centre came up.
'For exams like CUET, JEE, and NEET, you'll see more cars… my parking lot is full on those exam days. But most of those children come from higher-class families. They don't rent the rooms or use the washroom or need any printouts… they come completely prepared,' he explains.
Behind the table lie three thin blue and black mattresses, with three men lying in different states of sleep and wakefulness.
Annual entrance exams, however, do not translate into hefty profits like the quarterly government service exams for him.
'Students come from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and sometimes, Bihar, to give these exams. They often come to the centre directly from the railway station or bus stand with all their books and luggage,' he says.
Dalal realised a business opportunity in the entrance exams only five months ago after some candidates, frustrated by the back-and-forth travel to the closest urban area, Ghevra, asked Dalal if he could rent them a room in the village.
'I knew that the CUET was a few months away… so it was the best time to start,' he says. The makeshift rooms that he offers are affordable — Rs 200 per night for a mattress on the floor — and come with charging points, coolers. These rooms are located opposite the exam hall.
As the day's second batch of candidates line up near the exam centre, Dalal's printer spits out one admit card after another. 'I deleted 10,500 admit cards from my phone just a few days back,' he smiles.
A few metres away, students who don't want to stay the night turn to Parveen Kumar's shop, where they can leave their bags for safekeeping. As they wait to give the exam, they can munch on the patties at his shop.
Interestingly, Kumar says, this stretch of road was not the first to benefit from the exam boom in Sawda village. 'The centre's main gate earlier faced the opposite side, away from us, and was closer to the Sawda's main market,' he says.
However, the road leading to the school passed through a farmer's land.
'The school and the farmer had a good understanding… but about a year ago, they had a fallout, and the school shifted their entrance here. The room and printer businesses went bust there… but we were lucky, because we owned land on this side…we could open our shops now,' he chuckles.
Kumar, however, hasn't completely let go of farming. 'I give two to three hours a day for these services. The rest of the day goes to tending my fields,' says the carrot cultivator.