In yet another setback for edtech major Byju’s, its Chief Financial Officer Ajay Goel will re-join Vedanta with effect from October 30.
“As part of Vedanta’s structured re-hiring program called ‘Gharwapsi’, Mr. Ajay Goel joins back the Company,” said Vedanta in a stock exchange filing.
“Sonal Shrivastava has resigned from the post of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) of Vedanta w.e.f October 24, 2023 due to personal reasons,” said Vedanta.
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Goel’s exit will come at a time when Byju’s is all set to announce its FY22 financials anytime soon. On Tuesday, Byju’s said, “Ajay Goel will return to Vedanta Ltd after completing audit formalities.”
As per its last financials, Byju’s revenue from operations for FY21 was at Rs 2,280 crore. The company incurred massive losses of Rs 4,588 crore, up from just Rs 262 crore in the previous fiscal.
The delay in filing of financials also led to the stepping down of Byju’s auditor, Deloitte Haskins & Sells. The auditor was slated to audit the edtech company until 2025, but stepped down with “immediate effect” mid-term stating that “the financial statements of the company are long delayed.”
Not just the auditors, BYJU’S board members, including G.V. Ravishankar, Managing Director of early-backer Peak XV Partners (erstwhile Sequoia Capital India), Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus and Chan Zuckerberg’s Vivian Wu resigned due to corporate governance issues at the company.
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Byju’s announced new leadership in its finance function with the appointment of industry veteran Pradip Kanakia as the senior advisor and Nitin Golani, who is currently the President – Finance assume additional responsibility as India Chief Finance Officer (CFO).
Ajay Goel, who is returning to Vedanta Ltd, said, “I thank the founders and colleagues at BYJU’S for helping me assemble the FY22 audit in three months. I appreciate the support received during a short but impactful stint at Byju’s”.
The new India CFO and President – Finance, Nitin Golani, was previously the Chief Strategy Officer at Aakash Education. “He played a crucial role in Byju’s $1 billion acquisition of Aakash in 2021 and moved into an operating role at Aakash post-acquisition. Nitin, a chartered accountant, began his career at Grant Thornton Bharat and has held roles at MetLife and Accenture Strategy. Nitin will work closely with the board, founders and senior leadership on strategy development, capital planning, and financial analysis,” said Byju’s in a statement.
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“Ajay Goel is a national rank holder both as a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary and comes with rich experience in global multinational companies such as General Electric, Nestle, Coca Cola and Diageo – USL in various leadership roles. Ajay was earlier associated with Vedanta as Acting CFO & KMP of the Company from October 23, 2021 to April 09, 2023.
“During his earlier role at Vedanta, Ajay contributed significantly in terms of driving Business Performance, managing the financial affairs of the Company and heading the finance function with his leadership acumen. He was also instrumental in successfully handling regulatory approvals, investments matters, capital allocation, investor relations and major M&A related affairs,” said Vedanta.
His appointment comes at a time when Vedanta recently announced a spin-off of its metals, power, aluminium and oil and gas businesses into separate listed entities and an overhaul of lucrative zinc unit as part of value creation and reducing debt load.
The board approved six separate listed companies – Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Oil & Gas, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Steel and Ferrous Materials, Vedanta Base Metals and Vedanta Limited.
Vedanta will issue one share of the five demerged businesses for every share held in the company, the firm said in a statement.
The entire exercise, which would require shareholder and lender approval as well as a nod from the stock exchanges and courts, is expected to be completed in 12-15 months.
Explaining the rationale for the demerger, the Vedanta statement said it will simplify corporate structure with sector-focused independent businesses as well as provide opportunities to global investors, including sovereign wealth funds, retail investors and strategic investors, with direct investment opportunities in dedicated pure-play companies linked to India’s growth story.
