Will advise on governance, structure at Byju's: Kumar

Rajnish Kumar, former chairman of State Bank of India, has been on several rescue missions during his professional career as a banker and even after retirement. The rescue of Yes Bank is a notable example, and so is the attempt to save Jet Airways. Kumar's recent effort to steer BharatPe is still a work in progress. On Thursday, edtech major Byju's appointed him and Mohandas Pai, the former CFO of Infosys, to its newly formed advisory council, in a confidence-building initiative scripted by Byju Raveendran and wife, Divya Gokulnath. Edited excerpts of an interview with Kumar:

- Satish John

INTERVIEW

What's your brief as an advisory council member?

My brief would be to basically advise them on governance matters and organizational structure. We will use our experience in governing large corporations. They know their job of running a startup very well. But when it comes to governance, and when they (Byju's) are growing fast, they need help from professionals. These are young entrepreneurs, and I believe they have good intentions. But, somewhere in their (Byju's) growth journey, certain basics or hygiene factors should have been much stronger. So, there were issues, I think, and that's why the advisory council will advise them purely on governance matters.

Do you think the problems at Byju's can be fixed in that sense?

Of course, the intention is clear. They need someone to guide them and set their basic philosophy right. There will be people who will be accountable, particularly around compliance and the local laws of the land. If an accountability framework is created, then they (promoters) can focus on the content part and the teaching. That is where this advisory board comes in.