Byju’s Posts 13-Fold Widening in Losses in Delayed FY 2021 Report, Accounting Changes Detailed: Report

Byju's on Wednesday posted a 13-fold widening in losses in the year through March 2021. The Indian online education platform's losses reportedly widened to Rs. 45.7 billion for the financial year 2021, while the Bengaluru-based firm reported a revenue of Rs. 24.3 billion. Byju's released the financial statements after a delay of 18 months, and reportedly cited changes in accounting practices that led it to defer revenue to subsequent years, as the reason for the performance in FY 2021. It has also released unaudited numbers for the year through March 2022 and the following four months indicating sales growth.

As per a report by Bloomberg, Byju's reported a loss of Rs. 45.7 billion for the financial year ended March 2021. According to the company, changes in accounting practices by deferring revenue to subsequent years are the reason for the reported loss.

Founder Byju Raveendran reportedly stated that the delays were on account of multiple acquisitions, as well as a change in the revenue recognition model that required a reworking of the model for revenue. “Lastly, because of the attention our audit got in the last three months, Deloitte went deeper into the numbers. The numbers have been passed without conditions” the report quotes Raveendran as saying in an interview.

Meanwhile, sales during the year ending March 2022 increased by four times, to nearly Rs. 100 billion after registering revenue of Rs. 24.3 billion in the previous year, according to the report.

Revenue for the first four months of the current fiscal year reached Rs. 45 billion, Raveendran said, adding that sales are set to grow at a more than 50 percent rate this year.

Byju's is backed by Bond Capital, Silver Lake Management, Naspers and Tiger Global Management, was under scrutiny by the central government over its delay in submitting its audited financial report. In recent years, the company bought out startups offering coding lessons, professional learning courses, and more. According to Bloomberg, the startup was most recently valued at $22 billion (roughly Rs. 1,74,800 crore).