Deciphering corporate misgovernance at Indian startups

The situation inside India’s darling ed-tech unicorn Byju’s, which was once valued at $22 billion, has been turning bleaker by the day owing to a range of issues the company has failed to address for over a year now. The latest blow to the unicorn came last week after big 4 auditor Deloitte resigned from its role mid-way citing a delay in financial statements and lack of cooperation from senior management, and three of its investors vacated board seats over difference in opinion about the firm’s operational affairs.

The latest turmoil at Byju’s, which was merely weeks earlier raided over suspected violations of foreign exchange laws, has reignited concerns around corporate governance and oversight in India’s booming startup ecosystem.