Found gross negligence by Byju's auditors: ICAI president

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

gross negligence on the part of the auditors" of the now-crippled edutech firm Byju's, said its president Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal on Wednesday. Besides, the top official also said the accounting body is also planning to inspect the books of payments major Paytm.
«Our inspection has found gross negligence on accounting practices by individual auditors of Byju's and accordingly we have recommended to the Financial Reporting Review Board (FRRB) to take punitive actions on auditors concerned,» Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal, the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), told PTI here.
When asked whether the ICAI will inspect the books of the payments major Paytm group now, he said, «As we have taken a suo moto decision to look into the role of the auditors of Byju's, we are now thinking about looking to the role of the auditors of the payments major Paytm now».

Following a slew of regulatory breaches, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred Paytm Payments Bank from doing any business from March 15.
The RBI action first came in on January 31 when it asked the payments bank to stop nearly all its businesses except allowing already loaded payments from its wallets from March 1, but later extended the deadline till March 15.
On crisis-hit Byju's, Agarwal said, «The FRRB will review our report on the conduct of the auditors of Byju's both individually as well as at the group levels, apart from the role of the board of the company. After this three-stage review will form an opinion on the role of the