The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is likely to conclude the hearing in the case of the Board of Control for Cricket in India – BCCI’s plea against Byju’s, by next week. The next hearing is on March 20. The court is likely to pronounce an order on the BCCI’s insolvency petition against Byju’s next week after arguments conclude, CNBC-TV18 reported.
Although the case was filed on September 8, 2023, it was officially registered only on November 15, 2023. The BCCI had applied to the Bengaluru bench of NCLT against Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, Byju’s parent company, for defaulting on dues amounting to around Rs 160 crore. The dispute is over the sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket team’s jerseys.
Later on November 28, the ed-tech firm said it was in talks with the BCCI to settle a pending insolvency matter filed against it in Bengaluru NCLT.
Byju’s wanted to exit its jersey sponsorship deal with the BCCI in December 2022. In the past, the ed-tech company spent crores of rupees on marketing and advertising. The embattled firm—which till last year was valued north of $22 billion—has been cutting costs over the last year for sustainability.
Byju’s previously had three significant branding partnerships with the BCCI, ICC (International Cricket Council), and FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), all of which were up for renewal in 2023. The company confirmed last year that it would not renew any of them.
Recently, in a cost-cutting effort and to address the imminent liquidity crisis, Byju’s gave up all offices across India, retaining only its headquarters at IBC, Knowledge Park, Bengaluru. This comes at a time when the company has been engaged in a dispute with its investors regarding the validity of the funds raised from a recently concluded rights issue offering.
As a result of the decision, the company has now mandated that all employees work from home indefinitely, except for those working out of its headquarters and approximately 300 Byju’s Tuition Centres across the country.
This also comes at a time when the company had held back part of February salaries for about 75 percent of its employees. The company currently has close to 14,000 employees in India. Byju’s disbursed the payments after delaying it for about 10 days and promised to pay the balance once it is allowed to use the funds from the recently closed rights issue.
Read More: BYJU’s gives up all offices across India; retains only headquarters in Bengaluru