Byju’s appoints new CFO as Ajay Goel quits to rejoin Vedanta

Ajay Goel, who joined Byju’s as CFO in April this year, is leaving the firm to rejoin Vedanta where he was working as the Group CFO since 2021.

Byju’s has roped in Nitin Golani, who is currently the President of finance, as the new CFO of the company. Golani is said to have played a crucial role in Byju’s $1 billion acquisition of Aakash in 2021 and moved into an operating role at Aakash post-acquisition.

“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”. He will transition after completing the formalities of the FY22 audit,” said Goel in a statement.

The edtech company has also appointed Pradip Kanakia as the senior advisor.

Kanakia is an industry veteran with a career of over 35 years. He has held leadership positions at Price Waterhouse and KPMG. He will be working with the founders, advisory council, and Golani in navigating the transformation process at the company.

Byju’s advisory council includes Rajnish Kumar and T V Mohandas Pai who joined the newly constituted council in July this year.

The rejig comes at a time when Byju’s is dealing with a bunch of crises, including repayment of Term B loan, assets sale of Great Learning and Epic and annual financial results for FY22 which it has been delaying for several months. Byju’s recently said that it will file the FY22 results soon.

Last month, Byju’s announced the appointment of Arjun Mohan as the CEO of India operations. He took over Mrinal Mohit, founding partner and the outgoing head of India business at the Bengaluru-based company.

Soon after the appointment of the new CEO, Byju’s fired 3,000-4,000 employees as part of a business restructuring exercise to simplify operating structures, reduce the cost base and better cash flow management.