No plans to exit Kerala, will hire around 600 people, says Byju's

The total number of Byju's centres across the state will be 14, while no. of employees will increase from 3,000 to 3,600

Byju’s has said it has no plans to exit Kerala and is setting up three centres in the state and hiring around 600 people. The edtech company, which is valued at $22 billion, is targeting to be profitable by March next year.

With this, the total number of Byju’s establishments across the state will be 14 and these are a mix of company offices and tuition centres. The number of employees in the state will increase from 3,000 to 3,600.

India’s most-valued start-up is scaling up its operations in Kerala at a time when a group of Byju’s employees had met Kerala labour minister V Sivankutty, alleging that the edtech giant was forcing more than 170 staffers to resign. They added that it looked to discontinue operations and close its Thiruvananthapuram office.

“Byju’s remains committed to its investments in Kerala,” said the company in response to a query from Business Standard.

The Kerala government served a notice on representatives of Think and Learn (P) Ltd, (Byju’s parent company) to appear at the district labour commissioner's office for talks over forcing 170 employees to resign.

However, Byju's said the number of employees that would get impacted by the restructuring at Thiruvananthapuram is 140.   The Bengaluru-based firm claimed it is offering relevant relocation opportunities to the affected employees. It is discontinuing its Thiruvananthapuram operations to reduce redundancy.

Byju’s said, “Out of the more than 3,000 employees at our Kerala offices, only 140 have been transferred to the Bengaluru office. The narrative in the media has arisen because of this misunderstanding.”

Byju’s said it is providing employees with extended family health insurance benefits, and outplacement services led by some of the industry’s best recruitment specialists.

It is also fast tracking full-and-final settlement on demand. All these employees will also be offered an assured path to return to Byju’s in case they are unable to find a job in the next 12 months.

The company also said that this should not be construed as unfair dismissal.

TechnoparkToday, a community digital media platform for IT professionals, had said that Byju’s, which was working in Carnival building at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, was planning to stop its operations. Prathidhwani, a welfare organisation of techies, took up the issue and requested the labour minister to intervene and help employees reach an amicable and dignified settlement.

According to sources, Byju’s is implementing an “optimisation plan”, where it is set to lay off nearly 2,500, or 5 per cent of its 50,000 employees.

Byju’s saw a loss of Rs 4,588 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2021.

Meanwhile, Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) alleged that Byju’s is indulging in “unfair labour practices”. It urged the company’s management to “respect the law of the land and reinstate all retrenched employees” with immediate effect.

In response to KITU’s allegations, Byju’s said it is “absolutely false” that the company is forcing employees to resign. “Byju’s is a responsible organisation and follows all laws of the land,” said a Byju’s spokesperson.