The insolvency proceedings surrounding BYJU’s parent company Think & Learn Private Limited have taken an unexpected digital dimension. The Resolution Professional overseeing BYJU’s Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process has filed a case against Google and its India arm before the National Company Law Tribunal in Bengaluru, alleging that the RP has been unable to access critical company data and digital services hosted on Google’s platforms. The NCLT heard the matter for the first time this week, on July 24, 2026.
The core of the dispute is operational rather than legal in the traditional sense. The Resolution Professional, who under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code steps into the shoes of the company’s management when a corporate debtor enters CIRP needs access to BYJU’s enterprise accounts, emails, documents, and digital systems to discharge its statutory duties. Those systems, which run on Google’s Workspace infrastructure, have reportedly become inaccessible to the RP, making it difficult to conduct the day-to-day management of the company’s operations and to prepare the documentation needed for the resolution process.
“BYJU’s resolution professional has filed a case before NCLT Bengaluru against Google and its India arm, saying it is unable to access critical company data and digital services. This is the first time an insolvency RP in India has dragged a cloud services provider to tribunal over data access.”~Entrackr
Why Data Access Is Non-Negotiable During Insolvency?
When a company enters Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under the IBC, the Resolution Professional assumes control of the corporate debtor’s management replacing the existing board and executive team. This transfer of control is meant to ensure that the company’s assets, records, and operations are preserved and managed in the interest of creditors while a resolution plan is developed.
BYJU, like other modern technology organizations, stores the majority of its institutional memory in cloud-based systems, including financial records, contracts, employee interactions, internal policies, vendor agreements, and operational data. Much of this data is stored in Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Drive, Meet, and other workplace apps. Without access to those accounts, the RP cannot efficiently manage operations, identify creditors, recreate financial histories, or prepare the information memorandum required by prospective resolution applicants to submit bids.
The Google lawsuit complicates an insolvency process that was already one of the most disputed and convoluted in Indian business history. On July 23, 2026, just a day before the Google matter was first heard, the NCLT Bengaluru bench separately stayed the insolvency bidding process until August 31, after BYJU’s founders Byju Raveendran and Riju Ravindran challenged the ₹11,433 crore claim filed by GLAS Trust Company LLC, the US agent for lenders to the $1.2 billion term loan. That claim provides GLAS more than 99% of the voting power on the Committee of Creditors, which the founders believe is fundamentally unfair.
“NCLT Bengaluru directs BYJU’s resolution professional not to proceed with Form G bid invitation or finalise resolution applicants list until August 31. Founders’ challenge to GLAS Trust’s Rs 11,433 crore claim to be heard next. Founders allege GLAS has already recovered more than it is owed from overseas subsidiaries.”~ANI
A Novel Legal Question:Can An Insolvency RP Compel A Cloud Provider To Hand Over Data?
The BYJU’s RP versus Google lawsuit creates a legal question with no precedence in Indian insolvency law. The IBC gives the Resolution Professional broad authority to assume custody and control of the corporate debtor’s assets and records. However, when those records are stored on the servers of a third-party cloud service provider, especially one with its own terms of service, data processing agreements, and privacy obligations, the question of whether the RP’s statutory authority overrides Google’s contractual terms with its customer remains unresolved.
Google Workspace accounts are typically controlled by the account administrator, who in a functioning company would be a senior IT leader. In an insolvency scenario, that administrative access should theoretically transfer to the RP as the functional replacement for management. If BYJU’s original administrators potentially individuals aligned with the founders have retained control of the Workspace admin accounts and are refusing or unable to hand them over, the RP has no choice but to seek judicial intervention to compel Google to provide access.
“BYJU’s resolution professional has filed a case against Google and its India arm before NCLT Bengaluru, seeking access to important company data and digital services. The tribunal heard the matter for the first time this week. The RP says access is critical to managing operations during insolvency.”~NewsBytes
BYJU’s Insolvency By The Numbers And Why This Case Matters Beyond One Company:
BYJU’s insolvency is the highest-profile corporate collapse in Indian startup history. Once valued at $22 billion and counted among the world’s most valuable edtech companies, Think & Learn is now being wound down through a process that has involved courts in India, the United States, Singapore, and now effectively the operations of a global technology company.
The founders are contesting the legitimacy of the entire CIRP, the quantum of creditor claims, and the conduct of the RP while GLAS Trust has already seized overseas subsidiaries including Great Learning, Epic!, Tynker, and BYJU’s Alpha through US bankruptcy and Singapore court proceedings. Those seizures, the founders argue, mean GLAS has already recovered more than the $1.2 billion it claims to be owed yet continues to hold 99% of the CoC voting rights while the Indian process remains in limbo.
Against that backdrop, the inability of the RP to even access the basic digital infrastructure of the company it is supposed to be running makes an already difficult resolution process significantly harder. The outcome of the Google data case whenever NCLT rules on it will set a precedent for how Indian insolvency law applies to cloud-based corporate infrastructure in an era when virtually every company’s institutional records live in third-party hosted environments.
