Indian education tech giant Byju's has reportedly decided to lay off around 2,500 of its employees as it struggles to improve its finances and book profits.

In a statement on Wednesday, the $22 million valued start-up said that the layoffs are a step to cut costs and achieve overall profitability.

In May, the online learning platform had reported a&nbsp;loss&nbsp;of 45.64 billion rupees ($554.77 million) for fiscal 2021 due to higher promotion and employee expenses.

"To avoid redundancies and duplication of roles, and by leveraging technology better, around five per cent of BYJU’S 50,000-strong workforce is expected to be rationalised across product, content, media, and technology teams in a phased manner," the statement said,&nbsp;according to Moneycontrol.com.

The employees who have been sacked are from its subsidiary units like Toppr, and WhiteHat Jr, apart from the core team of sales and marketing, operations, content and design teams.

Moreover, they have consolidated its subsidiaries like Toppr, Meritnation, TutorVista, Scholar, and HashLearn, into a single business unit, while Aakash and Great Learning will function as separate organisations.

According to reports, Toppr alone has seen the maximum number of layoffs with 350, while another 300 employees are being asked to put in their papers, .

They have been told that their salaries for about 1-1.5 months would be withheld if they fail to hand in their resignation.

Moreover, 600 contractual employees have been asked to leave. However, the company said it would add 10,000 teachers in 2023 to its current strength of 20,000.

The decision to retrench employees comes in the wake of dwindling demand for Byju's services, which had reached its peak during the Covid lockdown when schools were closed for several months.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Indian education tech giant Byju's has reportedly decided to lay off around 2,500 of its employees as it struggles to improve its finances and book profits. In a statement on Wednesday, the $22 million valued start-up said that the layoffs are a step to cut costs and achieve overall profitability.

Indian education tech giant Byju's has reportedly decided to lay off around 2,500 of its employees as it struggles to improve its finances and book profits. In a statement on Wednesday, the $22 million valued start-up said that the layoffs are a step to cut costs and achieve overall profitability. In May, the online learning platform had reported a loss of 45.64 billion rupees ($554.77 million) for fiscal 2021 due to higher promotion and employee expenses. "To avoid redundancies and duplication of roles, and by leveraging technology better, around five per cent of BYJU’S 50,000-strong workforce is expected to be rationalised across product, content, media, and technology teams in a phased manner," the statement said, according to Moneycontrol.com. The employees who have been sacked are from its subsidiary units like Toppr, and WhiteHat Jr, apart from the core team of sales and marketing, operations, content and design teams. Moreover, they have consolidated its subsidiaries like Toppr, Meritnation, TutorVista, Scholar, and HashLearn, into a single business unit, while Aakash and Great Learning will function as separate organisations. According to reports, Toppr alone has seen the maximum number of layoffs with 350, while another 300 employees are being asked to put in their papers, . They have been told that their salaries for about 1-1.5 months would be withheld if they fail to hand in their resignation. Moreover, 600 contractual employees have been asked to leave. However, the company said it would add 10,000 teachers in 2023 to its current strength of 20,000. The decision to retrench employees comes in the wake of dwindling demand for Byju's services, which had reached its peak during the Covid lockdown when schools were closed for several months.

Indian edtech giant Byju's lays off 2,500 employees to cut costs, improve profitability

India’s online education provider Byju’s has laid off 2,500 employees across its group companies as the most valuable unicorn looks to mitigate the effects of slowing demand after two years of hypergrowth, according to Indian media reports. The Byju Raveendran-led edtech platform has laid off full-time and contractual employees from Toppr, WhiteHat Jr, and its core team across sales and marketing, operations, content and design teams, Moneycontrol reported quoting sources.&nbsp; About 1,200 employees from Toppr alone were sacked, including 300-350 permanent employees., while another 300 employees were reportedly told to tender their resignations, or were told that they will not get salaries for about 1-1.5 months.

Moreover, about 600 contractual employees were laid off, whose tenures were scheduled to end around October or November, this year, according to reports.

The main reason being attributed to the mass layoffs are “cost-cutting and redundancy in roles”.

However, a spokesperson of Byju’s refuted Moneycontrol's reports on the number of persons being sacked, saying, “We strongly deny the misinformation presented by Moneycontrol. To recalibrate our business priorities and accelerate our long-term growth, we are optimizing our teams from our group companies. This entire exercise involves less than 500 employees from across Byju's Group companies.”

This comes days after a Bloomberg report showed that Byju's was delaying payments for an approximately $1 billion acquisition deal finalised last year, citing sources familiar with the development.

PTI reported that edtech major Byju's group firm Toppr has laid off 1,100 staff or about 36 per cent of its workforce from the company earlier this week, according to some of the employees who have been hit by the decision.

Toppr's sacked employees said that they got a call from the company on Monday and were asked to resign, failing which they will be terminated without any notice period.

(With inputs from agencies)

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India’s online education provider Byju’s has laid off 2,500 employees across its group companies as the most valuable unicorn looks to mitigate the effects of slowing demand after two years of hypergrowth, according to Indian media reports.

India’s online education provider Byju’s has laid off 2,500 employees across its group companies as the most valuable unicorn looks to mitigate the effects of slowing demand after two years of hypergrowth, according to Indian media reports. The Byju Raveendran-led edtech platform has laid off full-time and contractual employees from Toppr, WhiteHat Jr, and its core team across sales and marketing, operations, content and design teams, Moneycontrol reported quoting sources. About 1,200 employees from Toppr alone were sacked, including 300-350 permanent employees., while another 300 employees were reportedly told to tender their resignations, or were told that they will not get salaries for about 1-1.5 months. Moreover, about 600 contractual employees were laid off, whose tenures were scheduled to end around October or November, this year, according to reports. The main reason being attributed to the mass layoffs are “cost-cutting and redundancy in roles”. However, a spokesperson of Byju’s refuted Moneycontrol's reports on the number of persons being sacked, saying, “We strongly deny the misinformation presented by Moneycontrol. To recalibrate our business priorities and accelerate our long-term growth, we are optimizing our teams from our group companies. This entire exercise involves less than 500 employees from across Byju's Group companies.” This comes days after a Bloomberg report showed that Byju's was delaying payments for an approximately $1 billion acquisition deal finalised last year, citing sources familiar with the development. PTI reported that edtech major Byju's group firm Toppr has laid off 1,100 staff or about 36 per cent of its workforce from the company earlier this week, according to some of the employees who have been hit by the decision. Toppr's sacked employees said that they got a call from the company on Monday and were asked to resign, failing which they will be terminated without any notice period. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE

India's edtech firm Byju’s sacks 2,500 employees, company says ‘recalibrating business priorities’: Report

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