This research study was commissioned by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in India to provide a broad overview of key issues associated with how the role of the private sector in education has evolved over the last ten years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the Government of India’s flagship programme for universal elementary education. The terms of reference set the focus of this study on broadly covering public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the emergence of low-fee private schooling. Additionally, the end of the first decade of SSA dovetails with the implementation of the RTE Act, bringing important changes to the general policy context framing the role of the private sector. Conversely, the RTE Act has implications for how SSA may evolve. A revised SSA framework based on relevant RTE provisions was devised for this purpose (see Ministry of Human Resource Development [MHRD], 2011a). As this was a subsidiary aim of the terms of reference for this study, we provide some indications on potential implications of the RTE Act on the private sector in relation to the new SSA phase.