Byju’s CFO Ajay Goel steps down, re-joins Vedanta

Byju’s chief financial officer (CFO) Ajay Goel has resigned to go back to Vedanta Ltd, both companies said in a statement on Tuesday. Goel will close out the FY2021-22 financial statement for Byju’s before leaving, the edtech firm said.He will join Vedanta on October 30, the conglomerate said. “As part of the structured re-hiring program called ‘gharwapsi’, Mr Ajay Goel joins back the company," Vedanta said. 

Byju's said it has made new appointments in its finance function, with Pradip Kanakia as senior adviser and Nitin Golani, currently the President-Finance, who will take charge as India CFO.The incumbent CFO, Ajay Goel, who is returning to Vedanta Ltd, said, “I thank the founders and colleagues at Byju’S for helping me assemble the FY22 audit in three months. I appreciate the support received during a short but impactful stint at Byju’sHe will transition after completing the formalities of the FY22 audit.

Byju's, which is also India's most-valued startup, has been under fire since the start of 2022 for a range of issues including accounting irregularities, alleged mis-selling of courses, and mass layoffs. The company has laid off thousands of employees in the last 12 months as it was hit by a double whammy of drying venture capital funding and slowing demand for online learning services. Since then, its investor board members have left too, citing differences with the founder Byju Raveendran.It has tried to recoup since then, with Goel's hire and company veteran Arjun Mohan's elevation as CEO. It is also in talks to divest assets such as Great Learning and Epic, apart from raising capital for Aakash.