In a bid to cut costs and shore up liquidity, Indian edtech start-up Byju’s has vacated its largest office space in Bengaluru, citing sources privy to the development Moneycontrol said on Monday. According to the report, the company has also given up a portion of another office space in the city. Byju’s has three office spaces in Bengaluru, including the 5.58 lakh square feet property in Kalyani Tech Park that it has vacated.
The company has asked its employees to work out of its other premises or from their homes from July 23, six employees told Moneycontrol. The company has also given up two out of nine floors it had in Prestige Tech Park, the employees said. A spokesperson for Byju's said, "Byju's has over 3 million square feet of rented spaces across the country to support its requirements. Expansion and reduction in office space is based on changes in working policies and business priorities which is very regular and is aimed at boosting operational efficiencies.”
The company took two buildings, Magnolia and Ebony, in Kalyani Tech Park in Brookfield on lease in June last year. It vacated Magnolia last month, shifting the employees to Ebony. It has asked all the employees to work from Prestige Tech Park and its main office on Baneghatta Main Road, as reported by Moneycontrol.
Security personnel at Kalyani Tech Park confirmed the development and said the company will be exit Ebony by August. Byju's had leased five floors in Magnolia and six floors in Ebony. According to employees and the security officials, it vacated four out of the six floors in Ebony last week, and will give up the rest by August.
Byju’s also laid off over 1,000 employees last month.
The company has come under fire for several more reasons, including accounting irregularities, tussles with lenders, mass layoffs and mounting losses. Byju's offices in Bengaluru were also searched by the Enforcement Directorate, a financial investigation agency, in April, under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The company is yet to file audited results for FY22 (2021-22).
According to a report by Bloomberg, earlier this month, the central government has ordered an inspection into the account books of Byju’s, which has been rocked by the resignation of its auditor and three board members last month. Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has sought a report in six weeks. According to the report, the inspection follows an internal assessment of the company’s state of affairs and, based on findings of the inspection, the government will decide if the matter needs to be escalated to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
Byju's reported a huge rise in losses to more than Rs 4,500 crore For FY21. Its revenue dropped marginally.