Financially troubled Byju’s has downsized its office space in Bengaluru, vacating a 400,000 sq ft property at Prestige Tech Park, as part of its ongoing cost-cutting efforts. “The rental was terminated earlier this year, and the deposit was adjusted against the rent defaults. The firm also has ongoing disputes with its other landlords,” said two people aware of the development.
Byju’s, run by Think and Learn, was paying a rental of about Rs 4 crore per month for the office space and had signed the rental agreement about 3.5 years ago with the Prestige Group. Separately, Kalyani Developers has sent a legal notice to Byju’s for defaulting on rental payments for a 500,000 sq ft office space at Kalyani Tech Park, Bengaluru.
The property has a lock-in period till March 2025.
“So far, the total due to the builder (Kalyani Developers) is ten months, of which they adjusted seven months’ rent with the deposit,” said a person aware of the development.
An email sent to Byju’s did not elicit any response till press time. Between 2022 and 2023, the cash-strapped edtech firm gave up 400,000 sq ft at IBC Knowledge Park and shifted operations from Kalyani Tech Park.
“Byju’s continues to hold the assets, but no one operates from here,” said one of the persons cited above.
Juggy Marwaha, CEO of Prestige Office Ventures, confirmed the termination of the lease agreement in January. “We are leasing office space and always depend on our occupier’s business to flourish and grow. However, sometimes the headwinds of their own business make it difficult for them to fulfil their rental obligations. In this case, we tried our best to realign rents and give them some relaxation,” he said.
“When rental payments still didn’t come on time, we had no choice but to adjust the security deposit and request that they release the space back to us, which we settled amicably,” Marwaha said.
