Beleaguered e-commerce platform Evaly, which faces inquiries by the government, said its liabilities to customers and merchants stood at Tk 543 crore as of mid-July, which is 35 per cent higher than the amount found by an initial probe of Bangladesh Bank.
The platform shared the figures in its submission to the commerce ministry yesterday.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. In March, the central bank found that Evaly’s dues were Tk 404 crore as of the middle of March, including Tk 214 crore liabilities to customers.
Yesterday’s disclosure came after the ministry asked the firm to explain the whereabouts of around Tk 338 crore that it owed to customers and merchants.
Evaly said it would file its liabilities to customers and the number of customers by August 26 and to merchants by September 2, and a time-bound plan to clear the dues.
“The e-commerce company showed Tk 105 crore as tangible assets and the remaining as brand value and other assets,” said Hafizur Rahman, an additional secretary of the commerce ministry and head of the e-commerce desk.
In its filing, Evaly estimated its intangible asset to be worth Tk 438 crore, including a brand value of Tk 422 crore. It estimated the brand value by taking into account the amount equal to its expenditure.
If the brand value is taken out, the asset’s value slips to Tk 122 crore against the total liabilities of Tk 544 crore. The e-commerce platform said it had equity of Tk 1 crore.
Mohammad Rassel, managing director of Evaly, said the company carried out the asset valuation, including that of the brand value, on its own.
“We will conduct the valuation of our assets through the third party later,” he told The Daily Star.
The company, which got a huge response from customers by offering spectacular discounts on products, came to the spotlight amid growing allegations of delayed deliveries against advance payments.
The ratio of discount was astronomical: it offered cashback as high as 120 per cent.
Amid complaints from the customers, the commerce ministry last month recommended the state agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Commission, investigate the allegations of embezzlement or transfer of Tk 338 crore.
Rahman said the company did not share any plan on making fresh investments.
Jamuna Group recently proposed investing Tk 1,000 crore into Evaly to salvage it.
“Evaly may show it in its next submission if the discussion of investment by Jamuna Group takes place,” Rahman said.
