Fintech start-up PhonePe to buy back ESOPs worth Rs 135 cr from employees

Fintech start-up PhonePe on Friday said it would buy back Rs 135 crore worth of employee stock options (ESOPs).

The buyback offer follows a three tier model, based on seniority: founders will not be participating in the buyback, top leadership can sell upto 10 per cent of their vested stock and all other current employees can sell up to 25 per cent of their vested stock.

Manmeet Sandhu, head of HR at PhonePe, said: “Last December, we launched a new PhonePe ESOPs plan and issued ESOPs to 100 per cent of our employees across levels, functions and grades. All these employees will complete the one year cliff of their stock vesting next month, so it’s a great time to offer some liquidity to everyone.”

“Almost 75 per cent of our current workforce is eligible to participate in the current buyback offer, and for most it’s the first time in their careers that they’ve either owned ESOPs or had a chance to liquidate them.”

In December last year, PhonePe launched a program to allot ESOPs to all its 2,200 employees starting at a minimum of Rs 3.5 lakh, cumulatively worth Rs 1,500 crore.

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor