BYJU's founder takes loan against home to pay pending salaries to his employees

BYJU's founder Byjus Raveendran has reportedly pledged his home as well as those owned by his family members to raise funds for paying pending salaries to his employees, Bloomberg reported. This move aims to generate funds to meet the company's financial obligations, particularly in covering employee salaries amidst the ongoing cash crunch, as per sources familiar with the situation.

People familiar with the matter said that the former billionaire Byju Raveendran, has leveraged two residences owned by his family in Bengaluru and an under-construction villa in Epsilon as collateral to secure a $12 million loan. People revealed that the funds obtained were utilized to meet payroll obligations, specifically to disburse salaries to around 15,000 employees within Byju's parent company, Think & Learn Pvt, Bloomberg reported quoting sources. 

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken legal action against Byju’s, its former sponsor, seeking corporate insolvency proceedings over an alleged default of Rs158 crore as per the media reports. The deal, initiated in September 2019, involved Byju’s taking over the Indian cricket team’s jersey sponsorship from Oppo. The contract required Byju’s to pay Rs4.61 crore per bilateral match and Rs 1.51 crore per match in an ICC event.

The NCLT in Bengaluru has issued a notice to Byju’s, granting two weeks for a response and scheduling the next hearing for December 22. Byju’s, facing business challenges, sought to encash its contract bank guarantee of Rs140 crore, leading to the legal dispute. The BCCI filled the sponsorship slot with Dream11 in July for a reduced price of Rs358 crore for 150 matches.