What is Byju’s trying to hide behind phantom loans?

Why read this story?

Editor's note: Last week, I wrote about a loan crisis that has been brewing for a while at Byju’s, India’s largest edtech company valued north of $22 billion. I discovered several cases where parents bought Byju’s products on loan and ended up cancelling them. EMIs are being paid without the knowledge of parents who are still getting regular calls for defaulting on their loans (read “At Byju’s, a loan crisis and no sign of funding”).  The news took readers and several people inside the company by surprise. But that’s how Byju’s works. Data is handled closely. The lack of transparency is telling. In fact, the company has restricted data access over the past few months after we started digging deeper into its business model and cash problems. Emails are used sparingly. Even excel spreadsheets are moved on WhatsApp.  For the earlier story, I’d sent detailed questions to Byju’s on 19 March, which remain unanswered. So I sent targeted queries around the loan and EMI issue again on Wednesday evening. In its response, the company asked for a “reasonable amount of time (at …