India's financial crime-fighting agency said on Saturday it had raided three premises linked to education platform Byju's and its billionaire chief executive Byju Raveendran over suspected breaches of foreign exchange laws.
The Enforcement Directorate said it seized various documents and digital data during the search, and had issued summons for Mr Raveendran, but he did not appear.
Byju's is one of India's biggest start-ups, once valued at $22 billion. It has attracted global investors such as General Atlantic, BlackRock and Sequoia Capital, which have invested in the company 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, the Enforcement Directorate said.
A representative for Byju's said the visit by directorate officials to one of the company's offices in Bengaluru 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," they said.
The searches come at a time when Indian start-ups have struggled to raise funds and been questioned by investors over their high valuations.
We are confident that this matter will be resolved in a timely and satisfactory manner
Byju's representative
The platform saw its usage swell during the pandemic, but announced the layoff of 2,500 of its 50,000 employees as educational institutions resumed in-person classes. The company reported a loss of 45.64 billion rupees in May for fiscal 2021.
Byju's spent $2.5 billion in the fiscal year ended on March 2022 to acquire companies such as Aakash, US-based Epic, children's coding platform Tynker, professional education firm Great Learning and exam preparation platform Toppr.
New York-based investment firm BlackRock, in a private assessment last month, slashed its valuation of Byju's by almost half to $11.15 billion.
The statement issued by the Enforcement Directorate said the company remitted 97.5 billion rupees to various foreign jurisdictions between 2011 and 2023 in the name of overseas direct investments.
The agency said Think and Learn had not prepared its financial statements since the financial year 2020-21, nor had its accounts been audited.
Byju's representative said the company had provided authorities with all the information they requested.
"We have nothing but the utmost confidence in the integrity of our operations," they said.
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- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
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