Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has made an entry into the education sector by buying a stake in Indus World Schools, a unit of education company Career Launcher.

The deal has been valued at nearly Rs 40-50 crore, reported industry experts.

"HDFC and CL have a lot to gain from this relationship. Together, we can make a significant positive impact on the quality of school education in the country," said Renu Sud Karnad, managing director of HDFC.

"Education and housing are core needs of India's emerging consumers. This partnership will leverage complementary strengths to help address the huge and immediate unmet demand for K-12 education," said Gopal Jain , managing partner of Gaja Capital Partners, a private equity firm and existing investor.

"We could not have asked for a better partnership at this stage," said Satya Narayanan R , chairman of the IWS chain of schools, who founded Career Launcher in 1995 with a group of IIT-IIM alumni.