GST officials visit offices of upGrad, company says ‘routine survey’

Goods and services tax (GST) department officials have visited the premises of edtech company upGrad, people aware of the development told Entrackr.

Confirming the development to Entrackr, upGrad’s legal head Koell Hemdev said, “It’s a routine survey and we are fully compliant and cooperating with the  GST department.”

The company did not provide any further comment.

Edtech startups are on the radar of the government for the past few months. Earlier, media reports suggested that Byju’s may be summoned by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) very soon. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) already conducted search operations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act at three premises of Byju Raveendran and his company Think & Learn Private Limited in April this year.

Like overall edtech, upGrad also felt the heat during ongoing funding winter as the Ronnie Screvwala-founded company fired 30% of its workforce in March. In the same month, it also raised Rs 300 crore via right issue from Temasek and Screwvala among others.  Ahead of the layoffs, upGrad's chief executive (CEO) Arjun Mohan also resigned after a nearly three-year stint at the company.

The Mumbai-based company turned unicorn in August 2021. Since the entry in the unicorn batch, the firm also acquired five startups namely Talentedge, Global Study Partners, Exampur, Wolves India and Harappa Education.

While upGrad managed to grow its scale two-fold to Rs 679 crore in FY22, the company’s losses spiked 3X to Rs 627 crore in FY22 from Rs 211 crore in the preceding fiscal year (FY21). The company is yet to file its FY23 financials.