Byju's Likely To Defer Staff Pay As Nclt Pushes Hearing | India Business News - Times of India

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MUMBAI: About 14,000 of Byju's employees are staring at an uncertain future.

The company's long-drawn dispute with a group of investors is restricting it from accessing the proceeds from its rights issue, aggravating a liquidity crisis which has already impaired the startup's ability to pay employee salaries on time. The Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (

NCLT

) on Tuesday listed the next

hearing

on the matter on June 6 — effectively meaning that until at least then, the company will lack adequate financial resources to disburse full salaries to employees.

Byju's has not been able to clear full salary payments to employees for Feb and March. Sources within the company said that founder & CEO Byju Raveendran has been raising debt in his personal capacity to pay salaries. "How long can one possibly keep doing that?" said a company executive on condition of anonymity. Byju's declined to comment.

The NCLT, in an interim Feb 27 order, had directed Byju's to keep the funds raised as part of its $200 million rights issue in a separate escrow account. It also restrained the firm from withdrawing them until disposal of the oppression and mismanagement suit filed against the company's management.