Days after reports said the Ministry of Corporate Affairs asked Byju’s to explain why it hadn’t filed its audited financials for 2020-2021, the edtech company has told its debt investors the audited results – already 17 months late – are expected by September 6.
Also in this letter:
■ MSMEs may be told to hire information security officer
■ Vi denies report alleging breach of customers’ sensitive data
■ Flipkart lines up Rs 3,600 crore for three automated fulfilment centres
Byju’s tells debt investors it will present audited results by Sept 6
Edtech major Byju’s has told its debt investors that it is likely to finalise its audited financial results for FY21 by September 6, people briefed on the matter said.
The online education firm had scheduled a call with investors earlier this month but had to postpone it, citing a delay in the formal closure of the audited financial reports.
Byju’s is expected to hold its board meeting next week once it receives the final report, which will be presented to the directors.
People aware of the matter said that Bengaluru-based Byju’s has indicated to its debt investors that the financials will be without any qualification. This means there are no separate observations on the audited numbers which will be presented by the company.
17-month delay: The development comes after the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) asked Byju’s parent firm Think & Learn for the reasons behind the 17-month delay in filing its audited accounts.
Differences with Deloitte: The edtech major’s revenue recognition has been a point of contention between the company and Deloitte, according to multiple people in the know. The company is said to have moved parts of revenue recognised in FY21 to FY22 as per recommendations from the auditor, citing Ind AS 115 rules, they said.
In an interview with ET in May, founder Byju Raveendran had said that delay in filing its financials was on account of multiple acquisitions the firm had closed.
Raveendran said the company is aiming to close FY23 with a revenue of around Rs 17,000 crore. It had posted operating revenue of Rs 2,381 crore in FY20, up from Rs 1,306 crore in FY19, according to regulatory filings. Its consolidated loss widened to Rs 262 crore in fiscal 2020 from Rs 8.9 crore a year earlier.
MSMEs may be told to hire information security officer
To shore up the cybersecurity ecosystem, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) may ask micro, small and medium internet enterprises to appoint chief information security officers (CSIO), sources in the know of the development told us.
Yes, but: This may not be made mandatory for now, to ensure that there is no “sudden compliance burden” on MSMEs, a source said.
“Cyber hygiene has to be improved. MSMEs are among the most vulnerable to cyberattacks; more often than not, they do not have the basic cyber-defence systems in place. The idea (of a CSIO) is to ask them to remain more vigilant,” a senior ministry official said.
The ministry will, meanwhile, also reach out to various MSMEs and seek the status of their capacity-building exercises, the official said. An official notice asking them to be ready before September 25 may be sent soon, the official added.
Rules deferred: Cert-In had on April 28 issued a set of guidelines which mandated that companies must report any cybersecurity incidents to the government as well as Cert-In. These guidelines, the agency had said, applied to all companies, including government bodies.
Following pushback and several rounds of meetings between the ministry and industry representative bodies, Cert-In had extended the deadline for MSMEs to comply with the new guidelines from June 28 to September 25.
Vi denies report alleging breach of customers’ sensitive data
Multiple vulnerabilities in the system of Vodafone Idea have exposed its customers’ personal data including call logs of nearly 301 million people including all its 20.6 million postpaid users over the last two years, cybersecurity research firm CyberX9 has alleged in a report.
Vi denied any data br
