BackED seizes 'incriminating data' of Byju's over alleged forex law violations of ₹28,000 crore
According to a statement made earlier today by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), three Bengaluru premises related to the education platform Byju and its billionaire CEO Byju Raveendran have undergone searches and seizures for possible violations of the nation's foreign exchange rules.
PremiumAccording to a statement made earlier today by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), three Bengaluru premises related to the education platform Byju and its billionaire CEO Byju Raveendran have undergone searches and seizures for possible violations of the nation's foreign exchange rules.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement it had seized various documents and digital data during the search and had issued summons for the CEO, but he did not appear. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) earlier today said it has conducted searches and seizure action at three premises in Bengaluru in the case of Raveendaran Byju and his company 'Think & Learn Private Limited' under the provisions of FEMA.
The searches under alleged foreign exchange law violations revealed that Think and Learn Private Limited, Byju's parent firm, had received foreign direct investment of nearly 280 billion rupees ($3.43 billion) during the period from 2011 to 2023, ED said.
"We have been completely transparent with the authorities and have provided them with all the information they have requested. We have nothing but the utmost confidence in the integrity of our operations, and we are committed to upholding the highest standards of compliance and ethics," Byju's legal team spokesperson in a statement to ANI said.
“The company will continue to work closely with the authorities to ensure that they have all the information they need, and added it is confident that the matter will be "resolved in a timely and satisfactory manner," the spokesperson added.
"We want to emphasize that it is business as usual at BYJU'S. We are committed to delivering high-quality educational products and services to our customers across India and the world," the spokesperson said.
Earlier, the ED claimed in a press release that investigations into Byju's also showed the company had received approximately ₹28,000 crore in foreign direct investment between 2011 and 2023. Additionally, the ED claimed that during the same time period, the company remitted approximately ₹9,754 crore or 97.5 billion rupees to various foreign jurisdictions under its authority of overseas direct investment.
"The company has booked around ₹944 Crore in the name of Advertisement and Marketing expenses including the amount remitted to foreign jurisdiction. The company has not prepared its financial statements since the financial year 2020-21 and has not got the accounts, audited which is mandatory. Hence, the genuineness of the figures provided by the company are being cross-examined from the banks," the ED said.
In contrast to the loss of ₹231.69 crore in 2019–20, Byju's reported a loss of ₹4,588 crore for 2020–21. Revenues dropped from ₹2,511 crore in FY20 to ₹2,428 crore in FY2020-21. A report on the company's financial performance for FY22 has not yet been made public. In a funding round in March 2022, the Bengaluru-based startup co-founded by Raveendran Byju and his wife Divya Gokulnath was valued at USD 22 billion.
With inputs from agencies
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