BYJU’S appoints Vedanta’s Ajay Goel as CFO
Ajay Goel’s appointment comes more than a year after its former CFO PV Rao resigned. Goel will work closely with the founders and the senior leadership on strategy development, capital planning and financial analysis.
Edtech major has appointed top executive Ajay Goel as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to strengthen its financial operations and long-term business strategies amid a delay in filing the FY22 financials.
Goel’s appointment comes more than a year after the edtech firm’s former CFO PV Rao resigned. Goel will work closely with the founders and the senior leadership on strategy development, capital planning and financial analysis, the company said.
Goel, who has over two decades of experience, was the Group CFO (Acting) of Vedanta Resources Limited. He has worked for companies across sectors, including Diageo, GE, , and .
“With his extensive experience and diverse skill-set, Ajay is the ideal candidate to take on the role of Chief Financial Officer as we continue to chart the course of sustainable growth in this exciting new phase,” Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO of BYJU’S, said in a statement. “His strategic thinking and financial acumen will be instrumental in helping us create even more value for our stakeholders.”
Goel’s appointment comes at a time when the edtech decacorn is dealing with growing losses, layoffs, and pending loans after a period of intensive pandemic-driven boom. It has also come under scrutiny for its accounting methods.
Recently, BYJU’S renegotiated conditions with some of its creditors. As part of renegotiating its debt financing arrangements, BYJU'S last month offered to raise the interest rate on its $1.2-billion term loan B (TLB) to its lenders. This was the biggest TLB being placed by an Indian startup at the time of the raise, but the loan was unrated.
The negotiation of a higher interest rate is the result of lenders recalling loans caused by a delay in furnishing audited financials for FY21, The Economic Times reported. The revisions are also linked with the FY22 financials, which are yet to be filed with the Registrar of Companies.
The edtech firm's FY21 financials were filed after an 18-month delay with regular accounting bodies in India. Also, the hazy timeline on the FY22 filings is raising questions among all the stakeholders.
The startup, which was last valued at $22 billion, reported a loss of Rs 4,564.38 crore in FY21, bigger than its FY20 loss, which stood at Rs 305.5 crore.
(The story has been updated after receiving confirmation from BYJU’S on the CFO appointment.)
Edited by Kanishk Singh