The Enforcement Directorate carried out searches and seizures at three premises in Bangalore in the case of Ravindran Byju and his company ‘Think and Learn Pvt Ltd’ under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Bengaluru:
The Enforcement Directorate has conducted searches at three premises (2 commercial and 1 residential) in Bangalore in the case of Raveendran Byju and his company ‘Think and Learn Pvt Ltd’ under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and Forfeiture action is taken. The company runs a popular online education portal by the name of Byju’s. Various incriminating documents and digital data have been seized during the search and seizure operation. The ED said that the company has not prepared its financial statements from the financial year 2020-21 and has not got the accounts audited which is mandatory.
From 2011 to 2023, the company received 28 thousand crores from foreign countries,
it has also come to know from the search of FEMA that the company has received foreign direct investment of about 28000 crore rupees during the period from 2011 to 2023. Apart from this, the company has sent Rs 9754 crore to foreign countries. During the same period in the name of foreign direct investment jurisdiction, the company has booked around Rs 944 crore in the name of advertising and marketing expenditure, which also includes remittances to foreign jurisdictions.
Money transactions are being investigated through banks
ED says that the genuineness of the data provided by the company is being investigated from the banks. The investigation was initiated against the platform on the basis of complaints received from various private individuals. During the investigation conducted by ED, several summons were issued to the founder and CEO Ravindran Byju, however, he was always evasive and never appeared during the investigation. After this, ED raided three premises.
