BENGALURU (Reuters) -An Indian tribunal on Tuesday started insolvency proceedings for edtech firm Byju’s after the country’s cricket board complained about failure to recover $19 million in dues, dealing another blow to a company that was once India’s biggest startup.
Byju’s has suffered numerous setbacks in the past few years, leading to a crisis of investor confidence, thousands of job cuts and a collapse in its valuation to less than $3 billion from $22 billion in 2022.
In this latest blow, The National Company Law Tribunal said “it cannot be disputed” that the parent of Byju’s, Think & Learn Private Limited, had availed itself of the services of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and had defaulted on roughly 1.59 billion rupees ($19.02 million).
“As we have always maintained, we wish to reach an amicable settlement with BCCI and we are confident that, despite this order, a settlement can be reached. In the meantime, our lawyers are reviewing the order and will take necessary steps to protect the Company’s interests,” a spokesperson for Byju’s said.
As per Indian laws, the tribunal appointed an interim resolution professional, Pankaj Srivastava, who will now oversee the management of Byju’s. The powers of board of directors will be suspended for now and rest with Srivastava.
BCCI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
($1 = 83.5950 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar; Additional reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter)
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