BYJU’S Arranges Line Of Credit To Pay March Salaries

Relief For BYJU’S As NCLAT Allows Settlement With BCCI; Sets Aside Insolvency Proceedings

SUMMARY

In an internal email sent to employees, BYJU’S said it has arranged an alternative line of credit to ensure payments of salaries by April 18

BYJU’S yet again trained its guns at its “foreign investors” and blamed them for not being able to access the proceeds of its $200 Mn rights issue

The National Company Law Tribunal has barred the edtech giant from accessing the proceeds of its rights issue till further notice

Troubled edtech startup BYJU’S on Monday (April 8) told its employees it has commenced the disbursement of their salaries for the month of March and expects it to be completed by April 18.

In an internal email sent to employees, the startup said it has arranged an alternative line of credit to ensure payments of salaries.

Inc42 has accessed the email sent by BYJU’S. The development was first reported by Economic Times.

This comes days after the edtech major delayed the disbursement of employee salaries for the second consecutive month due to a cash crunch. BYJU’S then said that the salaries would be cleared by April 8.

In the latest email, the startup said, “We are pleased to inform you that salary disbursement has commenced today and will be completed over the next 10 days… We have arranged an alternative line of credit to ensure timely payments.”

It yet again trained its guns at its “foreign investors” and blamed them for not being able to access the proceeds of its $200 Mn rights issue.

“Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we haven’t yet secured approval to access the rights issue funds, because of the action of four foreign investors… We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this period,” the email said.

BYJU’S has time and again blamed some of its investors for not being able to access the proceeds from the $200 Mn rights issue. BYJU’S is currently fighting a legal battle against multiple investors as the latter seek to block the rights issue and oust founder and CEO Byju Raveendran.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has barred the startup from accessing the proceeds of the rights issue till further notice. Just last week, the troubled edtech even sought arbitration to resolve its dispute with investors over the rights issue.

The spat between Raveendran and the company’s investors became public earlier this year after the latter convened an extraordinary general meeting to oust him and reconstitute the edtech’s board. This came close on the heels of the company announcing a $200 Mn right issue at a 99% valuation cut to tide over the funding crunch and pay outstanding dues to its vendors.

It is pertinent to note that the Karnataka High Court, in February, ordered to not implement the resolutions passed at the EGM after BYJU’S moved the court.

The funding crunch and the many legal battles have resulted in BYJU’S delaying crediting salaries of employees multiple times in the last few months. Last year, it even delayed depositing the PF contributions of its employees with the EPFO.