Troubled edtech giant BYJU’S employees at the Incuspaze co-working space in Gurugram were reportedly asked to evacuate the premises on Tuesday (November 21) due to non-payment of rent.
The office was primarily occupied by the company’s technology teams, Financial Express reported.
While BYJU’S declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the matter, a company spokesperson told Financial Express that BYJU’S has made all the payments on time and is now reconsidering if it should continue using the co-working space in the coming months.
BYJU’S, the spokesperson added, is in the process of negotiating a notice period and this has led to a dispute between the parties.
The development comes at a time when the cash-strapped edtech giant has laid off thousands of employees over the last year or so. Earlier this month, Inc42 exclusively reported that BYJU’S fired about 600 employees from its content and marketing teams as part of the ongoing restructuring exercise which would see about 4,000 employees losing their jobs.
Earlier in July, BYJU’S vacated multiple offices in Bengaluru in a move to save rental costs. BYJU’S had three offices in Bengaluru, including two buildings in Kalyani Tech Park, nine floors in Prestige Tech Park and its largest office in India at IBC Knowledge Park, Bannerghatta.
The latest development comes a few days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated it has issued show cause notices to the embattled edtech giant over FEMA violations.
“The Adjudicating Authority under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 has issued show cause notices to Think & Learn Private Limited and Byju Raveendran on the basis of the complaint filed by the Directorate of Enforcement… with respect to the contraventions of the provisions of FEMA, 1999 to the tune of INR 9,362.35 Cr,” the ED said in a statement.
The agency had conducted search and seizure operations at multiple premises linked to the edtech giant and Raveendran in April this year. During the operations, the ED seized documents related to overseas investments as well as funding raised by the company.
Earlier this month, the embattled company released parts of its financial statements for 2021-22 (FY22) after missing the deadline multiple times. BYJU’S, excluding its acquired businesses, reported a standalone EBITDA loss of INR 2,253 Cr in FY22 compared to INR 2,406 Cr in FY21. However, it is yet to release its consolidated financial statements for the year.
The delay in release of financial statements also resulted in the departure of BYJU’S statutory auditor Deloitte earlier this year. Subsequently, half of BYJU’S board members also resigned. The company is also entangled in a legal case with the lenders for $1.2 Bn term loan B (TLB).
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