Rajnish Kumar, Mohandas Pai to step down from Byju's advisory board after end of tenure this year

Byju's

Troubled edtech company Byju’s, on May 19, said that the parent company Think and Learn Pvt Ltd and its two advisory board members, Rajnish Kumar, and Mohandas Pai have decided not to renew their contract this year.

This comes at a time when the company is fighting a number of legal battles with its stakeholders in the National Company Law Tribunal. The contract between the two advisory board members and Byju’s is slated to expire at the end of the month of June.

“Our engagement with the company as advisors was always on a fixed term basis for a year. Based on our discussions with the founders, it was mutually decided that the tenure of the advisory council should not be extended. Though the formal engagement concludes, the founders and the company can always approach us for any advice. We wish the founders and the company the very best for the future,” said Kumar and Pai, in a joint statement.

The company, in a statement said that it values the engagement with the advisors and greatly appreciates all their efforts in navigating the company through turbulent times.

To be sure, the company roped in Pai, one of its initial backers through Aarin Capital and chairman of Mastercard India Kumar to its board advisory committee in July last year, to provide advice and guidance to the CEO Byju Raveendran on crucial matters.

“Rajnish Kumar and Mohandas Pai have provided invaluable support in the past year. The ongoing litigation by a few foreign investors have delayed our plans but their advice will be relied upon in the ongoing rebuild which I am personally leading,” said Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO, Think & Learn Pvt Ltd.

The development comes as Byju's is facing an acute shortage of funds with Byju Raveendran, the founder and CEO of the company taking on more personal debt to pay employees.

Meanwhile, the funds raised from the recently concluded rights issue is tied up in an escrow account as per orders from NCLT, till the disposal of the above mentioned case. At least seven vendors have sued Byju's at NCLT to recover their dues.

The company has also initiated layoffs on phone calls, letting go employees without putting them on a performance improvement plan (PIP) or having them serve a notice period. Byju's has laid off over 10,000 employees in the last 12 months as it battled a double blow of drying venture capital funding and slowing demand for online learning services. Since then, its investor board members have left too, citing differences with Raveendran.

The company has tried to fix some of the problems since then. Its early investor Ranjan Pai ploughed in the capital. It set up an advisory council with veterans such as Mohandas Pai and Rajnish Kumar who plan to step down now after completion of their one-year long contract. The company had also elevated Arjun Mohan as CEO, who also decided to step down from the position recently. Meanwhile, it is also in talks to divest assets such as Great Learning and Epic.