Will continue to maintain adherence to all FEMA regulations, says BYJU’S

New Delhi, Nov 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) Days after the Adjudicating Authority of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued show-cause notice to edtech firm Think and Learn Private Limited, and Byju Raveendran over alleged violation to the tune of Rs 9,362.35 crore, the company on Wednesday said that it will continue to maintain complete adherence to all relevant FEMA regulations.

A BYJU spokesperson said: "We are in receipt of the notice from the ED which now definitively concludes their investigation and the same has been stated in their press release dated November 21."

The BYJU official said that the queries received in the notice are solely technical in nature such as delay in filing Annual Performance Reports (APRs) with respect to duly compliant ODI investments of close to (~) Rs 8,000 crore that arose from the delayed statutory audit (FY22).

"The company has, however, filed requisite intimation contemporaneously for all FDI which is received in accordance with the eligibility criteria in law and not affected by the alleged non filing of APR. The company has also issued or allotted shares within the prescribed time against the FDI so received," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that this is being clarified to dispel any misgivings about wrong doing in relation to receipt of FDI or allotment of shares.

"The company is advised that the delayed filing of APR (particularly when returns in relation to receipt of FDI have been filed in time) is a technical issue and the company is confident of successfully dealing with the case," the official said.

The spokesperson also said that based on precedent actions by the Adjudicating Authority, we anticipate that the fines, if any, will be nominal.

"To cite an example, the Late Submission Fee for such reporting delays that can be imposed pursuant to the RBI regulations with respect to APRs is very nominal (Rs 7,500) and by no means does the notice denote a fine," the official said.

"We would like to strongly emphasise that the ED notice does not specify any quantum of fine but rather highlights the quantum of FDI or ODI (~ Rs 9,000 crore) along with the deadlines that we missed in the reference period for this quantum," the company's spokesperson said.

"We want to reassure you that BYJU'S maintains and will continue to maintain complete adherence to all relevant FEMA regulations, as verified by comprehensive due diligence conducted by reputable law firms," he added.

The reply by the edtech company came about eight days after the ED issued show cause notice to Byju's parent company, Think & Learn and its chief executive Byju Raveendran for alleged FEMA violations involving an amount of Rs 9,362.35 crore.

The latest statement from Byju's confirms the company's receipt of the notice.

Last week, the company had said it had not received any such communication.

The ED in a statement last week said that it had initiated investigation on the basis of various complaints regarding the foreign investment received by Byju's and business conduct of the company.

"The company was also stated to have made significant foreign remittances outside India and investments abroad which were allegedly in contravention of provisions of FEMA, 1999 and caused loss of revenue to the Government of India," ED had said.

ED had further said it had conducted searches at the premises of Byju's and the residence of Raveendran on April 27-28 and seized documents pertaining to all investments received by the company as well as documents pertaining to the overseas investments made by the company.

The contravention, ED added, was caused by the company failing to realise proceeds of exports made outside India, by delayed filing of documents against the FDI in the company, by failing to file documents against the remittances made by the company outside India and by failing to allot shares against the FDI in the company.

Source: IANS