Byju Raveendran barred from leaving country; ED issues lookout notice

BENGALURU: ED has issued a lookout notice against Byju Raveendran, the founder of Byju's app after the company fell apart following one of the biggest financial crises ever seen with a most valued startup firm.

Byju received the ED’s notice after evading several cases including violation of foreign exchange rules. According to the official explanation, ED said they issued the notice to prevent Byju from leaving the nation. Media reached Byju, but the founder has not yet cared to respond to the new developments.

In April last year, the ED had ordered an inquiry against Byjus’. Later, ED raided Byju’s two offices and his house. The inspection was by the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) regarding the receipt of foreign funds.

ED conducted an inspection only after Byju Raveendran failed to appear before the officials even after repeated notice. Rs 28,000 crore foreign direct investment (FDI) has been received into the Byju's app from 2011 to 2023, according to ED. It has also been found that the company invested Rs 9,754 crore in various foreign companies during the same period. The remittances abroad include Rs 944 crore spent on advertising and promotions. The ED inspection found that the company had not prepared the financial documents required to be maintained from the financial year 2020-21 and had not conducted the audit of accounts as required by law.