Beleaguered ed-tech BYJU's founder Raveendran has reportedly pledged his home as well as those owned by his family members to raise funds for paying pending salaries to his employees, Bloomberg reported. This move aims to generate funds to meet the company's financial obligations, particularly in covering employee salaries amidst the ongoing cash crunch, as per sources familiar with the situation.
People familiar with the matter said that the former billionaire Byju Raveendran, has leveraged two residences owned by his family in Bengaluru and an under-construction villa in Epsilon as collateral to secure a $12 million loan. People revealed that the funds obtained were utilized to meet payroll obligations, specifically to disburse salaries to around 15,000 employees within Byju's parent company, Think & Learn Pvt, Bloomberg reported quoting sources.
BYJU's Under ED Scanner
Meanwhile, an Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into alleged foreign exchange law violations by edtech major BYJU's and its CEO and co-founder Raveendran Bjyu is in the final stages of completion following which a show cause notice could be served to them. The federal probe agency had in April searched two business and one residential premises, including that of the registered company of BYJU's -- Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd. -- under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The probe against BYJU's has been going on since then.
The company, reacting to press reports that alleged contravention of Rs 9,000 crore by the company under the forex law, issued a statement saying that it "unequivocally denies media reports that insinuates BYJU's of any FEMA violation". "The company has not received any such communication from authorities," BYJU said in a post on X.
The Bengaluru-based company provides early learning, middle school education and test preparation, among others and Raveendran Bjyu co-founded the e-learning company with his wife Divya Gokulnath. The company earlier last month reported narrowing of operational losses in core business to Rs 2,253 crore for the 2021-22 fiscal.
