NCLT issues notice to Byju’s in insolvency case filed by a BPO service provider

Feb 7, 2024

The National Company Law Tribunal, Bengaluru, Wednesday, issued notice to edtech behemoth Byju’s in an insolvency proceeding filed by customer support company Teleperformance Business Services India Ltd.

Teleperformance alleges that Byju has defaulted on payment of Rs 4.82 crore, excluding Rs 21 lakh interest to the company in lieu of business process outsourcing services provided by the company.

The tribunal gave two weeks for Byju's to file its objections and gave one week to the operational creditor to file a reply and listed the matter on March 11.

Teleperformance filed its application in November 2023, which got registered on January 25.

Byju is also facing an insolvency petition under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, from digital marketing firm Surfer Technologies for a default of Rs 2.3 crore, besides from the cricketing body Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The cricket body claims that Byju’s had defaulted on a Rs 158 crore payment in lieu of an extension of the jersey sponsorship agreement.

At the last hearing, the NCLT bench rejected Byju’s plea to dismiss the insolvency case as it was trying to settle the matter via arbitration.

The bench in the BCCI case has listed the matter for February 28.

Byju’s had earlier informed the tribunal that it was negotiating with BCCI, a claim which BCCI counsel denied.

Byju’s had signed a three-year jersey sponsorship agreement in March 2019, which it extended for another year. The dispute pertains to the payments from October 2022 till March 2023.

Byju’s, which has been facing financial troubles. Its US arm had filed for bankruptcy after defaulting on debt of $1.2 billion. The company has also been facing an insolvency petition from its lenders.

[The Economic Times]