April 29 (Reuters) -India's financial crime-fighting agency said on Saturday it had raided three premises of billionaire Byju Raveendran, the founder
April 29 (Reuters) –
India’s financial crime-fighting agency said on Saturday it
had raided three premises of billionaire Byju Raveendran, the
founder and CEO of education platform Byju’s, over suspected
breaches of the country’s foreign exchange laws.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement it
had seized various documents and digital data during the search,
and had issued a summons for the founder, but he did not appear.
Byju’s is one of India’s biggest startups valued at $22
billion, with top global investors such as General Atlantic,
Blackrock and Sequoia Capital investing in it over the years.
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.
The platform saw its usage swell during the pandemic, but
has since laid off thousands of employees and seen a reduction
in its valuation by one of its investors. Blackrock last month
cut Byju’s valuation by nearly half to $11.15 billion, according
to a filing seen by Reuters.
Byju’s legal spokesperson said the visit by ED officials to
one of the company’s offices in Bangalore was related to a
routine inquiry under foreign exchange laws.
“We will continue to work closely with the authorities to
ensure that they have all the information they need, and we are
confident that this matter will be resolved in a timely and
satisfactory manner,” the spokesperson said.
The statement issued by the agency said the company also
remitted 97.5 billion rupees to various foreign jurisdictions
between 2011 and 2023 in the name of overseas direct
investments.
ED said Think and Learn had not prepared its financial
statements since the financial year 2020-21, nor had its
accounts been audited, which was mandatory under norms.
“We have nothing but the utmost confidence in the
integrity of our operations,” the spokesperson added.
(Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru, Sarita
Chaganti Singh and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi, M. Sriram in
Mumbai; Editing by Lincoln Feast and William Mallard)
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