NCLT asks Byju's to settle dispute with Teleperformance within a week

Byju's asked to settle with Teleperformance

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on April 18 asked embattled edtech firm Byju's to settle its dispute with France-based Teleperformance Business Services in a week's time.

However, if the dispute is not settled by then, the tribunal would hear the case on merits and pass an order accordingly. The case will now come up for hearing on April 30.

The case was posted for hearing Teleperformance's insolvency plea today. Senior advocate Pramod Nair, who appeared on behalf of Byju's, told the court that the company was trying to settle the dispute, following which the tribunal deferred the hearing. The case will now come up for hearing on April 30.

During the course of the hearing, Teleperformance argued that they  had entered into a service agreement on April 2022 and it raised over 20 invoices amounting to over Rs 4 crore between March and August 2023, which went unpaid. Byju's did not dispute these claims and admitted a default on their part. According to Teleperformace, Byju's agreed to pay the amount in three tranches -- Rs 1.5 crore in the first trance, Rs 2 crore in the second trance, and Rs 2.2 crore in the final tranche.

The NCLT on February 7 issued notice to Byju's in connection with an insolvency plea filed by Teleperformance against the Ed tech company. Byju's used to avail the services of outsourcing agencies such as Teleperformance, Cogent E Services, and iEnergizer till mid-2022. The three companies provided calling agents to Byju’s, which discontinued services of Teleperformance and Cogent E in a bid to slash costs as trouble mounted.

On February 6, the NCLT  issued a notice in an insolvency plea filed by digital marketing firm Surfer Technologies against Byju's. Similarly on February 28, the NCLT issued notice to Byju's in a plea filed by  US-based non-bank loan agency Glas Trust Company LLC to admit the company to insolvency resolution process.

Glas trust represents over 100 lenders who had loaned money to Byju's' US entity, Byju's Alpha Inc, which is currently undergoing voluntary bankruptcy process at a court in Delaware. According to senior advocate Uday Holla, who appeared for Glas trust, Think and Learn, the Indian entity of Byju's had stood guarantee to the $ 1.2-billion loan or Rs 8,000 crore.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)'s insolvency plea claiming that Byju’s had defaulted on payment of Rs 158 crore is also at an advanced stage of hearing.