The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken embattled edtech giant BYJU’S to the National Company Law Tribunal.
As per the details available on the NCLT website, although the case was filed on September 8, it was officially registered on November 15.
The NCLT website indicates that the case is set to be heard on December 22.
According to The Morning Context, which was the first to report the news, the case pertains to the dispute around the sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket team’s jerseys.
The publication quoted a source as saying, “There is no way to be sure about the amount, but I hear it can vary between INR 100 Cr and INR 250 Cr.”
Meanwhile, a BYJU’S spokesperson told Inc42 that the company is in discussions with the cricket board and expects to settle the matter soon.
“We are in discussions with the BCCI to settle the matter and we hope to achieve that soon,” the spokesperson said, without giving any additional details about the case.
While it remains undisclosed as to the reasons behind the BCCI filing its suit against BYJU’S, all indications point to its being related to the ed tech giant’s announcement in December 2022 that it would not renew its branding partnerships, citing a cost-cutting strategy to achieve profitability.
BYJU’S previously had three significant branding partnerships with the BCCI, ICC (International Cricket Council), and FIFA, all of which were up for renewal in 2023. However, the company confirmed earlier in the year that it would not renew any of them.
It bears noting that when BYJU’S was riding its valuations highs, it had taken over the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team from Chinese smartphone major OPPO in 2019. That deal ran till the end of March 2022.
The problems arose when BYJU’s extended the sponsorship for an additional year till 2023-end, reportedly for a cumulative sum of $55 million. It can be safely surmised that the sponsorship extension, which was soon followed by the financial troubles that kept piling up for BYJU’s, is at the root of the case filed by the BCCI, the world’s richest cricket board and one where money rules supreme and is the only currency that truly matters.
