According to the official statement by Enforcement Directorate, the searches have been conducted at the three premises of the founder and the chief executive officer Raveendran of ‘Think and Learn Pvt Ltd’ which runs the Edtech platform under the brand name of BYJU’s.
As per sources, the probe agency has seized various incriminating papers and digital media. The searches have been conducted under the provision of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). It has been revealed from the reports that the company has received foreign direct investments (FDI) worth Rs 28,000 between 2011 and 2023. In the same time frame, it sent about Rs 9,754 crore to various foreign jurisdictions under the heading of overseas direct investment.
‘Think and Learn Pvt Ltd’ has booked around Rs 944 crore in the name of advertisement and marketing expenses including the money remitted to foreign jurisdictions. Apart from this, it is also been reported that the company has not even prepared its financial statements since the financial year 2020-21 and also didn’t get their accounts audited.
The probe agency further said hence, the genuineness of the figures provided by the company is being cross-examined from the banks.
Notably, the probe against the company was initiated after a complaint was received. It has also been reported that several summonses were issued to Byju Raveendran during the investigation, but he always remained evasive and never appeared during the investigation.
As per sources, the Consumer Affairs Department is also investigating India one of the top edtech companies over the issue of misleading advertisements. The department has informed that the complaint was received against Byju Raveendran’s company which claims that many of their students have cleared the civil services examinations. The complaint says that the claim in the advertisement is false and the investigation into the matter is on by the department.
Byju Raveendran is the founder of the edtech start-up BYJU’s. The son of physics and math teachers from the village of Azhikode in Kerala’s Kannur district, Raveendran is a former educator who is now an entrepreneur.
He appeared for CAT himself in 2003 and achieved a perfect score despite not studying enough for the test. Two years later, he assisted several others in passing the CAT exam before deciding to pursue teaching as a full-time career.
Raveendran went on from teaching a small group of friends to instructing hundreds of students in huge auditoriums and taking online sessions. Before launching his main app in 2015, he founded Think & Learn in 2011 to provide online lessons. Byju Raveendran won the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Startups in 2018.
Raveendran’s startup BYJU’s prepares students for Indian exams like the IIT-JEE, NEET, CAT, and IAS as well as international ones like the GRE and GMAT using a freemium business model. The company also purchased the rights to the Indian cricket team’s uniform in July 2019.
With 33 million users and 2.2 million paid customers today, BYJU’s is one of the most successful edtech start-ups in the world. Data as of July 2019 indicate that its valuation has increased fourfold since last year. It now ranks among the top five most valuable internet businesses in the nation. This unicorn company is currently worth USD 3.6 billion.
Difficulties seem never-ending for BJYU’s now. As per sources, based on a complaint from a woman who signed up for coaching to become an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore has issued an order against a staff member of educational technology company BYJU’s for alleged “fraudulent behaviour” and “unfair trade practice.”
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