Edtech major Byju’s, on Friday, said the question of mis-selling courses to students does not arise because its employees cannot process a product sale without a triple-layered audit mechanism.

Representatives from Byju’s met the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Friday after the statutory body summoned Byju Raveendran over allegations of tricking and mis-selling courses to students. Further, the NCPCR had found that Byju’s was purchasing students’ mobile numbers and threatening their parents – claims that the company has dismissed.

The NCPCR was also probing if Byju’s was encouraging parents to take loans to pay for courses they couldn’t afford which “put their savings and future in jeopardy” and wouldn’t initiate refunds despite parents demanding for it.

“Byju’s categorically stated that the question of ‘mis-selling’ does not arise because its sales professionals do not have the authority to close the sale of a product at the point of sale… The completion of a sale happens at the central level,” the company said on Friday.

In order to assist students that require financial support, where requested, Byju’s connects the parents of such students to reputed third party banks/financial institutions. It is impossible for any sales executive to get a loan approved.”

Priyank Kanoongo, chairman, NCPCR, said, “We’re happy that the NCPCR has taken steps to ensure the safety of children. We want to let every ed-tech company know that their relationship with students should more professional, not commercial.” 

He added that Byju’s has been advised to “conduct an affordability test of parents and they should not be selling courses to families whose monthly income is below `25,000. That along with some tweaks in Byju’s refund policies are required. We’ve also demanded that the contact details of a grievance officer be clearly visible on Byju’s website.”

Separately, another NCPCR source, aware of the developments, said, “Byju’s – along with other edtech companies – have been facilitating loans and since these are to pay for tuition fees, it does not come under the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines for education loans. The ed-tech companies enabling this need to relook at their arrangements.”   

The NCPCR and Byju’s have spoken on the aforementioned topics and the statutory body is understood to be submitting a written report on Monday.