Ajay Goel, the chief financial officer (CFO) of Byju’s, has resigned from the edtech firm six months after boarding it, and is rejoining Vedanta Ltd which is in the midst of a major restructuring.

Byju’s has appointed industry veteran Pradip Kanakia as the senior advisor, while president (finance) Nitin Golani has been given additional responsibility as India chief finance officer (CFO) to handle the finance function of the company.

In a separate statement, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta said that Sonal Shrivastava has resigned as its CFO with effect from the close of business hours on October 24, 2023, due to personal reasons.

Vedanta added that on the recommendation of the audit and risk management committee and the nomination and remuneration Committee, its board has approved the appointment of Goel as the CFO with effect from October 30, 2023.

The company added that his reappointment is part of its structured re-hiring programme called ‘‘Gharwapsi’’.

Goel has strong experience in global multinational companies such as General Electric, Nestle, Coca Cola and Diageo USL in various leadership roles.

He was earlier associated with Vedanta as the acting CFO of the company from October 23, 2021 — April 9, 2023.

Vedanta said that during his earlier role at the firm, he contributed significantly in driving business performance, managing the company’s financial affairs and heading the finance function with his leadership acumen.

He was also instrumental in successfully handling regulatory approvals, investment matters, capital allocation and investor relations apart from major M&A-related affairs.

“I thank the founders and colleagues at Byju’s for helping me assemble the 2021-22 audit in three months. I appreciate the support received during a short but impactful stint at Byju’s,” Goel said.

He will transition after completing the formalities of the financial year 2021-22 audit, the statement said.

The edtech company had planned a board meeting in the second week of October to adopt the result but it could not be held due to the resignation of Goel in process, a PTI report said.

While the audit process by Goel is complete, the auditor BDO (MSKA & Associates) will sign off the audit after doing due diligence as the resignation of the CFO has a material impact on the company’s audit process.

Byju’s announced his appointment in the first week of April as Group CFO but due to internal restructuring, he was given charge of handling finance at Indian level.

Subsequently, its auditor Deloitte resigned in June citing a delay in the submission of financial statements for 2021-22.

In a letter to Byju’s board, Deloitte Haskins and Sells said that it is resigning as auditor of Think & Learn three years before the expiry of its contract due to a long delay in the edtech firm’s financial statement for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022. Following its resignation, the company appointed BDO (MSKA & Associates) as auditor.

``Kanakia brings vast experience from a prominent career of over 35 years and has held leadership positions at Price Waterhouse and KPMG. He has led audits for prestigious Indian and multinational companies with expertise in finance strategy, transformation, performance management, accounting, auditing, reporting, controls, compliance and governance,” Byju’s said.

Golani was previously the Chief Strategy Officer at Aakash Education and played a crucial role in Byju’s $ 1 billion acquisition of Aakash in 2021 and moved into an operating role at Aakash post-acquisition.

He began his career at Grant Thornton Bharat and has held roles at MetLife and Accenture Strategy.