BYJU’S India CFO Ajay Goel Steps Down Within Six Months

Ahead of the release of its much delayed FY22 financials, BYJU’S India CFO – Ajay Goel, will be stepping down from the edtech decacorn, just six months after his appointment. Goel will be returning to Vedanta Private Limited after completing the formalities of the FY22 audit.

Nitin Golani, currently the president – finance at BYJU’S, will be elevated to the India CFO role. Golani had joined BYJU’S in May 2020 – a time when edtech startups were reaping the benefits of COVID-induced lockdown.

Goel, who looked after the merger and acquisition, had played a pivotal role in BYJU’S $1 Bn acquisition of Aakash Education. Post the acquisition, Goel took over as chief strategy officer at Aakash Education.

Besides this, BYJU’S appointed Pradip Kanakia as the senior advisor. Kanakia has earlier held leadership positions at Price Warehouse and KPMG and has led audits for several Indian and multinational companies.

Kanakia will be working closely with BYJU’S advisory council and the founders. 

In July, BYJU’S appointed  SBI Chairperson Rajnish Kumar and ace investor TV Mohandas Pai as members of its newly-constituted advisory council.

This came after the edtech decacorn saw three of its board members – Peak XV Partners’ GV Ravishankar, Prosus’ Russell Dreisenstock, and Vivian Wu of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – tendering their resignations.

Last month, BYJU’S also appointed Arjun Mohan as India CEO, replacing Mrinal Mohit, who has been a founding partner at BYJU’S. 

The latest top-level rejig has come at a time when there’s mounting pressure on BYJU’S to release its FY22 audited financial statements. The startup is running 19 months behind in reporting its financial statements for FY22. It must be noted that BYJU’S released its financial statements for FY21 after a long delay in September last year. Its loss surged 19.8X to INR 4,588 Cr in FY21.

Additionally, the top brass of BYJU’S also have to devise a plan to pay back a $1.2 Bn loan that it had taken from lenders almost two years ago. The new CFO might  also be tasked with selling Great Learning and EPIC for $800 Mn – $1 Bn. 

It must be noted that BYJU’S, which is trying to sell Great Learning to pay off the lenders, have faced resistance from top management of Great Learning as they intend to buy back the edtech startup from BYJU’S parent Think & Learn Private Limited.