ED confirms notice to Byju's and its founder for FEMA violations of Rs 9,362 crore

Byju's undertakes strategic review of more assets

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 21 confirmed sending a show cause notice to edtech company Think and Learn Private Limited and Byju Raveendran in the FEMA violation case, hours after the company denied receiving a notice from the law enforcement agency.

The company and its founder Byju Raveendran have contravened the provisions of FEMA by failing to submit documents of imports, realise proceeds of exports made outside India, and so on, the law enforcement agency further elaborated, in a statement on November 21.

“...By failing to submit documents of imports against advance remittances made outside India, by failing to realize proceeds of exports made outside India, by delayed filing of documents against the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received into the company, by failing to file documents against the remittances made by the company outside India and by failing to allot shares against FDI received into the company,” the ED added.

It also added that the complaint was filed by the ED with respect to the contraventions of the provisions of FEMA, 1999 to the tune of Rs 9,362.35 crore.

The law enforcement agency further elaborated, in a statement, that it had initiated an investigation on the basis of various complaints regarding the foreign investment received by 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,” the ED added.

There were reports that the ED had issued a show-cause notice to the company for alleged violations of the act worth Rs 9,000 crore.

Earlier in April, the ED searched three premises in Bengaluru in the case involving Raveendran and his company under the provisions of FEMA. At that time, the ED asserted that it had seized various incriminating documents and digital data.

In the statement today, the agency added that it had seized documents pertaining to all investments received by the company, including overseas investments.

This also comes hours after Raveendran told shareholders that a recent due diligence effort found the company in complete compliance with FEMA.