Edtech major Byju's says now 262 tuition centres operate across India

The edtech firm says focus on quality with efficiency helps most centres turn profitable

Beleaguered edtech firm Byju’s said on Friday that its tuition centres had entered the third successful year with 262 operating across India, rejecting reports that it was planning to shut down many of its centres.

Nearly all of Byju’s Tuition Centres (BTCs) continue to serve students successfully across India. They are gearing up to set new benchmarks in hybrid learning, which brings together the best of offline and online learning, it said.

“Byju’s firmly states that such an implication is entirely unfounded and misrepresents the company's operational strategy. The news item, disseminated by an online press journal, was incorrect and there is no such reduction planned,” the company said, adding that BTCs are entering their third successful year of full-capacity operations and exceptional academic results.

Byju’s said the focus on quality with efficiency was helping most of its centres turn profitable in their third year. Ninety per cent of its tuition centers, meaning 262 out of 292, will continue to function in this novel hybrid model, integrating the best and the latest technology in the coming years.

“As Byju’s strives for operational efficiency, it has identified opportunities for improvement for a small percentage of BTCs, which will undergo strategic restructuring to align with Byju’s long-term vision,” said the company.

Most students have already signed up for the next academic year (2024-25). What began as an innovative concept has now become the gold standard of hybrid education, it said.

Byju’s said it remained dedicated to its mission of revolutionising education through technology and personalised learning experiences.

The cash-strapped edtech company has given up all its regional sales offices across India, keeping only its headquarters at IBC, Knowledge Park, Bengaluru. The offices that have been given up could be well over 20 cutting across Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, among others.

While the restructuring of office space started a few months ago under Chief Executive Arjun Mohan, a final decision was taken recently to shut all regional sales offices to save cost amid a severe funding crunch and valuation markdown, according to sources. With that, the company has told all its employees, 15,000 of them, to work from home indefinitely.

Last year, Arjun Mohan replaced Mrinal Mohit as India CEO of the company. In September 2023, Byju’s decided to lay off around 4,000 employees as part of a restructuring exercise.  Earlier last year, the company had laid off about 1,000 employees and in 2022, some 2,500 workers.

Byju’s has processed only some portion of salaries to employees as the funds raised through a recent rights issue have been locked in a “separate account” due to the ongoing dispute with investors. The company’s revenue jumped to Rs 5014.60 crore in FY22. However, the losses widened to Rs 8,245.2 crore in 2021-22 (FY22) from Rs 4,564.38 crore in 2020-21 as subsidiaries WhiteHat Jr and Osmo underperformed.