The Board of Control for Cricket in India has taken Think & Learn, the parent company of Byju’s to the National Company Law Tribunal, as per The Morning Context. A case was filed in September and registered earlier this month, according to the NCLT website.
It appears that the case is related to a dispute around the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team’s jerseys. “There is no way to be sure about the amount, but I hear it can vary between Rs 100 crore and Rs 250 crore,” says a person to The Morning Context on the condition of anonymity.
Byju’s wanted to exit its jersey sponsorship deal with the BCCI in December 2022. In the past, the ed-tech company spent millions of dollars on marketing and advertising. The firm—which till last year was valued north of $22 billion—has been cutting costs over the last year for sustainability, as per the report.
Byju’s recorded a near 19x jump in its net loss of Rs 4,588 crore in fiscal 2020-21. Revenue was flat at Rs 2,280 crore. Advertising and promotional expenses rose 150% to Rs 2,251 crore in the same period. The company is yet to file its audited earnings report for 2021-22.
The company has severe cash problems. Vendors have been following up for payments for nearly a year. Tax deducted at source and provident fund payments have been pending for months. Combine them with pending customer refunds and loans, and the outstanding liabilities for Byju’s will cross Rs 2,000 crore.
It has defaulted on the $1.2 billion term loan it raised in the US in November 2021 and the lenders are now calling for blood. Byju’s has failed to furnish audited financials for 2021-22 and 2022-23 and its board members, auditors as well as chief financial officer have resigned. To make matters worse, the Enforcement Directorate last Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to the company and founder Byju Raveendran for alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act violations to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore.