Byju's CFO Ajay Goel quits in seven months, Nitin Golani to take charge

In the latest setback to Byju’s, the troubled edtech firm’s chief financial officer Ajay Goel has left the company after a stint of just about six months and returned to mining conglomerate Vedanta which is set to start a major restructuring of its businesses.

Nitin Golani, currently the president (finance) at Byju’s, will assume additional responsibility as India chief finance officer, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. It has also tapped industry veteran Pradip Kanakia as a senior advisor in the finance section.

Goel’s appointment at Vedanta would be effective October 30, Vedanta said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. "As part of Vedanta's structured re-hiring program called ‘Gharwapsi’, Mr. Ajay Goel joins back the Company," Vedanta said. Gharwapsi translates to homecoming.


Vedanta, led by billionaire Anil Agarwal, announced a restructuring plan last month that will entail demerging its businesses into six different listed entities, five of which will focus on specific businesses like aluminium, oil, steel, and power. The proposal requires approval from lenders and regulators.

Sonal Shrivastava, the incumbent CFO at Vedanta, will exit the company effective Tuesday. She had joined Vedanta in June. Shares of Vedanta fell 3.37% to close at Rs 215.25 on the NSE on Monday on news of Shrivastava’s exit. Indian stock markets are closed on Tuesday due to the Dussehra festival.

Goel’s departure comes at a time when Byju’s is yet to furnish its audited FY22 results, which have been delayed by more than a year and are a key concern for investors, as well as lenders of its $1.2 billion term loan B. Byju’s said in its statement that Goel will leave after “completing audit formalities”.

“I thank the founders and colleagues at Byju’s for helping me assemble the FY22 audit in three months. I appreciate the support received during a short but impactful stint at Byju’s,” Goel said, according to the statement.

Byju’s has seen more than half a dozen top-level exits in recent months, including its chief business officer Prathyusha Agarwal and WhiteHat Jr chief executive Ananya Tripathi.

Goel’s exit may have a bearing on the arrival of the audited financials, which BDO needs to approve. BDO was appointed as auditor for Byju’s following the resignation of Deloitte soon after investor representatives from Peak XV Partners (earlier Sequoia Capital India), Prosus and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative resigned from the board.

At the same time, Byju’s is also looking to sell group assets such as Epic and Great Learning to clear its $1.2 billion term loan B.

Meanwhile, the startup is also looking to close its acquisition of Aakash Institute with the promoter family, the Chaudhrys. The company said in a statement last week that the FY22 results would be presented during the week, but they haven't been filed yet.

Golani was previously the chief strategy officer at Aakash Education, a test-prep subsidiary of Byju’s. According to the statement, Golani played a crucial role in Byju’s acquisition of Aakash in 2021 and moved into an operating role at Aakash post-acquisition.

“Their (Golani and Kanakia) experience, understanding and insights on business and finance will help us in our ongoing turnaround efforts,” Byju’s cofounders Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath said in a joint statement.

ET reported on October 12 that Manipal group chairman Ranjan Pai is planning to cut a much bigger cheque of $250-300 million in the edtech firm’s brick-and-mortar coaching unit Aakash Institute.

Interestingly, Aakash Chaudhry–promoter of Aakash Institute–is likely to return as the firm’s chief executive which is linked to the equity swap of Aakash deal and Pai’s potential investment plans, ET reported on October 16.

Simultaneously, private equity firms like Bain Capital and KKR have held early-stage talks with Byju’s for the sale of controlling stake in Aakash, according to an October 20 report in ET.