Deloitte Haskins & Sells resigned as auditors to Think & Learn Pvt., better known as Byju’s, citing a delay in submitting financial statements.
“The financial statements of the company are long delayed,” Deloitte said in a letter Thursday, which was seen by Bloomberg and confirmed by officials who declined to be identified. Deloitte hasn’t been able to start an audit due to the delays and that will have a “significant impact” on its ability to “plan, design perform and complete” the audit as per standards, it said in the letter sent to India’s Registrar of Companies.
The auditor resignation highlights troubles at the embattled Indian ed-tech company, which once touched a valuation of $22 billion as a poster child of India’s fledgling internet economy. Byju’s is embroiled in a tussle with its lenders after missing a payment on its dollar loan.
Byju’s said in a statement it appointed MSKA & Associates, a member of international accounting network BDO, as statutory auditors. A spokesperson for Deloitte was not available for comment.
An earlier Economic Times report said several board members of the company, including early backer G.V. Ravishankar, had tendered their resignations, a claim which Byju’s called “entirely speculative.”
--With assistance from P R Sanjai and Advait Palepu.
(Adds comment from Deloitte’s letter in second paragraph.)
