Why Deloitte ditched Byju’s

Gaurav Tyagi

10 reads

Gaurav Tyagi

10 reads

Deloitte’s resignation as the statutory auditor of edtech giant Byju’s has seen the company’s year go from bad to worse. The reasons behind Deloitte wash its hands off of Byju’s are a reminder that while Byju’s problems are only now coming home to roost, they began a long time ago.

June 23, 2023

7 MINS READ

Key Takeaways

In the past year, edtech major Byju’s has laid off over 3,000 employees, been raided by authorities, sued by lenders, countersued those lenders, and seen its lending partners suspend ties with it
Now, even as rumours abound that three members of its board have resigned, Deloitte—its statutory auditor—has tendered its resignation owing to the firm’s “long-delayed” FY22 financials
In its letter, Deloitte also states the company’s failure to resolve the modifications mentioned in Deloitte’s audit report of the company for FY21
These issues, which have been buried under all the company’s recent problems, are still hurting the company

Byju’s, the Indian edtech giant and India’s most valuable startup, entered 22 June with something of a PR crisis on its hands. Mere days earlier, it had laid off 1,000 employees. Now, news had broken that the company’s lending partners—non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), including Aditya Birla Finance—had suspended disbursals meant to finance purchases of Byju’s various offerings.

By the time the day ended, Byju Raveendran, the company’s founder and CEO, had a lot more trouble on his hands. While the company has denied the news, it was reported that three members of the company’s board—Vivian Wu of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV Ravindran of Peak XV Partners (Formerly Sequoia Capital India and SEA), and Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus Ventures—had tendered their resignations.

And even as the company was fighting these raging fires, it emerged that Deloitte, the company’s statutory auditor, had tendered its resignation from Byju’s and its subsidiary, Aakash Educational Services. Deloitte was appointed as the statutory auditor of Think & Learn Pvt Limited, the parent entity housing Byju’s and its subsidiaries, in April 2020 for a period of five years, ending in March 2025.

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