India Inc employees acquire ₹300 crore in company shares through ESOPs since Jan 2025

Employees, including key managerial personnel (KMP), of nearly 50 companies have acquired company stocks worth ₹284 crore through Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) in the first three months of 2025, according to data compiled from the BSE.

Among the notable buyers, Rajeev Jain, Managing Director of Bajaj Finance, purchased shares worth ₹40.5 crore, increasing his stake in the company to 0.06%. Jain had received a similar volume of shares in FY24, when he was issued ₹52.22 crore worth of equity shares under the company’s stock option scheme. Additionally, he received ₹29.2 crore in share-based payments, taking his total remuneration for FY24 to ₹101.42 crore, as per Bajaj Finance’s annual report.

Wipro’s Malay Joshi acquired company shares worth ₹13.5 crore, while Vinay Ahuja, Executive Director at 360 ONE Wealth, purchased shares valued at ₹9.9 crore. Wipro, which appointed Joshi as CEO of its 'Americas 1' Strategic Market Unit in April last year, saw a total of over ₹21 crore worth of shares acquired by various employees during the period.

Other key executives making significant stock purchases since January include Nikhil Chopra of JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (₹16.9 crore), Abhishek Poddar of HDFC AMC (₹6.6 crore), Sailesh Bhan of Nippon Life India Asset Management (₹6.5 crore), and Ruzbeh Irani of Mahindra & Mahindra (₹5.0 crore), among others.

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Interestingly, companies from the IT and financial sectors dominate the list, with major firms such as Infosys, HCL Technologies, Wipro, LTIMindtree, Mastek, Coforge, and Birlasoft.

The Nifty IT Index, which has been the second-worst performing sectoral index after Realty, has declined 15.4% this year, compared to a 2% drop in the Nifty50 during the same period.

An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is a benefit scheme that grants employees an ownership stake in their company. These plans can be structured as direct stock grants, profit-sharing arrangements, or bonuses, with employers retaining discretion over eligibility and allocation.