Government orders inspection of Byju’s account books, seeks report

India's Ministry of Corporate Affairs has ordered an inspection into the account books of embattled edtech startup Byju's. It has sought a report in six weeks, the Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A media report (Hindu Business Line) on July 8 said the SFIO, a multi-disciplinary organization under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), has begun its probe against Byju's.The ministry has already examined the legalities and the procedures for making a reference to SFIO over the last few days, one of the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.However, the company has denied the report that the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) is probing into its alleged financial reporting compliance failures and governance lapses.

Meanwhile, on July 4, Byju’s said its promoters have re-invested the entire amount raised by them through the secondary sale of shares in the company. According to private market intelligence firm PrivateCircle Research, promoters — Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran — have together sold shares worth around $408.53 million in 40 secondary transactions since 2015.PrivateCircle said Raveendran holds 15.90 percent, whereas Divya Gokulnath and Riju Raveendran have 3.32 percent and 1.99 percent, respectively. Also, Bloomberg has reported that the Indian edtech startup and some of its lenders have restarted negotiations to restructure its $1.2 billion term loan. The lenders have delivered a detailed amendment proposal to the company calling for a debt pay down, coupon boost and investor protections on the loan, the report said.