Officials of the Goods and services tax (GST) visited office premises of Ronnie Screwvala's upGrad on Wednesday in Mumbai for a routine survey, according to a statement by the edtech unicorn. According to news reports, Koell Hemdev, Head of Legal, at upGrad, said, "It’s a routine survey and we are fully compliant and cooperating with the department.". The recent visit by GST officials to upGrad's office premises marks the second occasion where a start-up has drawn the attention of government authorities.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in April conducted searches on three premises in Bengaluru in the case of Raveendaran Byju and his company ‘Think & Learn Private Limited’ (Byju online learning platform) under the provisions of FEMA. During the search, various incriminating documents and digital data were seized. Subsequently, in June, Byju's also fell under the scrutiny of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
upGrad, founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli, runs a higher education platform for working professionals. The company has raised more than $400 million in equity to date and counts Singapore's Temasek Group, IFC Asset Management, James Murdoch's Lupa Systems among others as its backers.
UpGrad was valued at more than $2 billion last year and offers online MBA and executive education courses by partnering with local and foreign universities. UpGrad's India CEO Arjun Mohan left the company in January and was roped in by Byju's last week.
In FY22, the company logged a widening loss of Rs 626 crore as its employee benefit costs surged close to Rs 400 crore. upGrad, however, reported an over twofold increase in FY22 revenue to Rs 682.21 crore on a consolidated basis.