NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian education technology startup Byju’s has made up a shortfall in payments to a national pension fund, a lawyer representing the company – which is battling a U.S. lawsuit over a $1.2 billion loan – told Reuters on Tuesday.
The comments from Zulfiquar Memon of MZM Legal came after labour ministry sources told Reuters that India’s Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had identified a shortfall in payments from Byju’s for August 2022 to May this year.
The sources said Byju’s had deposited 1.23 billion rupees ($15 million) following a directive issued by the EPFO, and that the remaining balance of 34.3 million rupees would be deposited within a couple of days.
Memon did not give details of the sums involved, saying only: “There are no pending provident fund dues. The complete amount due has been paid.”
“If there is any amount that’s not reflecting, it’s due to technical or authentication issues.”
Once India’s most valuable startup, Byju’s has seen its valuation plunge, with the dispute over the loan coming weeks after India’s financial crime fighting agency raided the company over suspected violations of foreign exchange laws.
Last week, three global investors at the company said their representatives had resigned from Byju’s board, while Deloitte said it was resigning as the company’s auditor because it had not received financial statements for 2021-22.
Byju’s, whose products range from online tutorials for children to offline coaching for aspiring engineers, rose to prominence during the pandemic as locked-down students flocked to its apps.
($1 = 81.9540 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh and Aditya Kalra, Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Alison Williams and Mark Potter)
