Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO of education technology major BYJU’s, has written a letter to his employees, in the wake of raid by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at his offices and residences for two days.
BYJU’s has remitted some of its funding abroad in order to fund overseas acquisitions.
India’s ED conducted search and seizure operations on April 27 and 28 at three premises of Byju Raveendran and his company Think & Learn Private Limited, under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The ED said that BYJU’s remitted Rs 9,754 crore to various foreign jurisdictions in the name of overseas direct investment.
Byju Raveendran told employees that “we have made a number of overseas acquisitions (investing an amount of approximately Rs 9,000 crore) over the years as part of our growth strategy. In order to fund these acquisitions, we have remitted some of our funding overseas.”
BYJU’s has brought more FDI to India than any other Indian startup (Rs 28,000 crore).
“We have been able to create job opportunities for more than 55,000 talented professionals. This makes us India’s largest employer among startups,” Byju Raveendran said.
Byju Raveendran, along with his family, moved to Dubai to avoid the ED.
“The information requested by and furnished to the officers in connection with the FDI raised, overseas investments made, and cross-border transactions relating to marketing and branding activities by BYJU’S has previously been submitted by our authorized representatives,” Byju Raveendran told employees.
BYJU’S has taken all efforts to comply with all applicable foreign exchange laws and “all our cross-border transactions have been duly vetted by both its professional advisors/counsel and advisors/counsel of the investment funds and other sophisticated counterparties.”
“Such transactions are routed only through regular banking channels/the RBI’s authorized dealer banks and the requisite documentation and statutory filings have been duly submitted. I want to reassure you that we are fully cooperating with the authorities,” Byju Raveendran said.
BYJU’s said it is funded by more than 70 impact investors who have satisfactorily done due diligence on its operations, including all FEMA compliance.
