esop

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Young Indian professionals earn more than ever, yet face rising costs, unaffordable housing, and job insecurity due to AI. This new middle class grapples with maintaining a curated online image while managing internal anxieties about financial stability and professional relevance in a rapidly evolving economy.

Uday Kotak, founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank, urged India to reduce its reliance on foreign capital and cultivate a robust domestic pool of long-term risk capital for true self-reliance. He emphasized that companies should prioritize building businesses with a three-to-five-year vision over short-term stock price fluctuations, advocating for stronger domestic private equity and venture capital ecosystems.

Digital payments platform PhonePe on Friday announced a buyback of employee stock options (esops) worth Rs 135 crore. The buyback offer follows a three-tier model, based on seniority, a statement said.

Fintech platform Razorpay is buying back esops worth Rs 578 crore from 650 existing and former employees. Lightspeed Venture Partners along with Moore Strategic Ventures, who will subsequently join the company’s cap table, are joining the funding round.

BharatPe, the merchant payment and lending network company, has launched what it claims is India’s first ‘esop Cheque Cash Karo’ scheme. All esop holders have been given option to sell back shares from their first vesting back to BharatPe.

iD Fresh Food on Thursday announced its seventh round of employee stock option plan (esop) tranche for 27 employees for their contribution to the company’s success and continued growth through challenging times.

Indian corporate law provisions allow Indian companies to issue esop to the employees of their holding or subsidiary companies outside India. Therefore, it is possible for an Indian company to issue esops to employees outside India.

IndusInd Bank MD and CEO Sumant Kathpalia is planning to sell some of his shares in the private sector lender to settle loans and vesting of upcoming esop, the bank said on Wednesday.

The start-up community had expected some more sops from the Government in the upcoming budget regarding esop taxation for start-ups.

Razorpay has extended Rs 1 lakh worth of esops to each of its 3,000+ employees for the first time, reflecting its commitment to an employee-first ethos. Previously, Razorpay’s esop buybacks have benefited numerous employees, with the latest $75 million buyback in 2022 impacting 650 employees.

Companies have long offered esops or stock options to employees as a reward for productivity or as an incentive to keep them from going over to the competition. Employees look forward to making a packet on these stocks — but are they really such a boon? Here’s the dark side of esops

PhonePe, the digital payments platform of Walmart-owned Flipkart, is buying back employee stock options (esops) worth Rs 135 crore. The company’s founders will not be participating in the buyback while the top leadership can sell up to 10% of the vested stock.

Market regulator Sebi has notified new esop regulations, including for purchase of shares by employee welfare trusts from the secondary market with adequate safeguards.

India's startup ecosystem faces challenges with esop taxation, creating liquidity issues for employees. While a 2020 tax deferral aimed to help, it's limited to a small fraction of eligible startups. Expanding this benefit to all recognized startups and unlisted companies is crucial for making esops a true wealth-creation tool.

The 2020 tax deferment policy for esops aims to address immediate tax liabilities and financial strain on startups. Despite its potential, applicability is limited to only 3,605 IMB-certified startups. NASSCOM recommends expanding eligibility to all DPIIT-recognized startups to attract talent and reduce employee attrition.

Udaan, the B2B eCommerce platform, on Wednesday announced an esop policy covering all employees and said future allocations will vest every quarter, as it removed the standard one-year cliff'.

The company said that the current and former employees, as young as 22 who hold vested stocks of the company, will be eligible to sell up to 30 per cent of their vested esop shares.

Once the ultimate wealth-creation vehicle, and part of the startup lore, esops have lost their shine along with the startup story.

Two areas warrant urgent attention which Budget 2026 can address: the allowability of esop expenditure in the hands of companies, and the taxation challenges faced by globally mobile employees.

MUMBAI: Sebi on Friday floated a proposal making it mandatory to seek permission from exchanges before alloting stocks under employees stock options (esop) schemes.

Mumbai, Jan 5 () With a number of startups collapsing mid-way, many employees are now preferring bonuses instead of Employee Stock Option Plans (esops) as part of their compensation package, industry experts said.

Indian companies continue to adopt conventional equity-linked plans for their Employee Stock Option Plans (esops) according to a recent survey carried out by KPMG (India).

Fintech unicorn Razorpay is buying back shares worth $10 million, or Rs 73 crore, from its staff under the esop (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) pool.

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held the perquisite value of employee stock options (esops) to be taxable in India, in the hands of a bank employee who was deputed to Dubai. The reason: The esops were granted while the executive was in the country and related to employment here.

Flipkart is mulling a buyback of employee stock options (esops) worth nearly $125 million, sources told TOI. If it happens, it will create many new dollar millionaires. The plan is part of a new funding round that the Walmart-backed company is in the midst of.

Paytm, which is allowing employees to become shareholders before its upcoming mega public offering, will facilitate liquidity to pay share price and employee stock ownership plan (esop) tax through loans of up to Rs 100 crore.