After Saturdays ED searches, Byju Raveendran, the CEO of educational platform Byjus, in a letter to his employees stated that the company has brought more foreign direct investment (FDI) to India than any other startup and no FEMA rules.
Byjus, which is the most valuable startup in India and has received investments from global firms such as General Atlantic, BlackRock, and Sequoia Capital, was previously valued at USD 22 billion.
As we are funded by 70 impact investors who have satisfactorily done due diligence on our operations, including all FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) compliance, we are confident that the authorities will also come to the same conclusion, CEO Byju Raveendran said in the memo sent late on Saturday, which was seen by Reuters.
On Saturday, the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at three locations related to Byjus on suspicion of breaking foreign exchange regulations.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, the search operations conducted on Saturday revealed that Think Learn Pvt Ltd, the parent company of Byjus, had received foreign direct investment amounting to almost 280 billion rupees ($3.43 billion) between 2011 and 2023.
According to the agency, Byjus parent company Think Learn Pvt Ltd remitted 97.5 billion rupees to different foreign jurisdictions between 2011 and 2023 in the guise of overseas direct investments.
In the internal memo, Raveendran said that the company had sent some money overseas to fund its international acquisitions.
The company had taken all efforts to comply with foreign exchange laws and all cross-border transactions were routed through regular banking channels, he added.
I want to reassure you that we are fully cooperating with the authorities, Raveendran said.
He added that the required documentation and statutory filings had been submitted to the Enforcement Directorate.
