In India, there has been boost in student who is enrolling for distance learning courses. Distance education in India has been fast growing because of the many advantages. The admissions in regular University courses have become competitive due to limited number of seats available in particular professional courses. The organization in charge for Distance Education Council is for the encouragement and coordination of the Open University and distance education system and for fortitude of its standards in India.

Although some people have that misconception of associating distance learning with online education, a fine line exists between them. While all online degree programs can be termed as distance learning courses, it is hard to name distance-learning courses as online courses. This is because the technology used in both the manner may be different in some cases. Furthermore, in India, its benefits are many; Distance Learning Courses in India are gradually becoming popular.

In India there are various institutes offering distance education. As the course is on line, cost of these courses is much lesser than the regular courses; distance-learning courses in India have also become popular in the bucolic areas. Thus, the distance learning institutes are serving a very vital cause by enabling the less advantaged sections of the society to track higher education of their choice.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), which is a leading institute of Distance Learning in India, was to provide distance education to less privileged sections of the society. Of the 1.5 million students of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), lots of conscription comes from rural areas. However, these distance-learning courses are equally popular in the metropolitan areas as the correspondence courses are helping them to improve their career options or take on in other important activities.
There are, at current 11 open universities in India that provide distance education for those who are interested in taking up professional courses or any other educational course of their interest. Furthermore, more than 54 distance-learning institutes in India gratify to the needs of higher education in India.