SBI Funds executives reap fortunes from listing-day ESOPs
SBI Funds' market debut enriched its senior leadership through stock options, highlighting how India's booming asset management sector is using equity to lock down key talent.
SBI Funds made its market debut on Tuesday, translating years of employee stock ownership plans into substantial paper wealth for its senior leadership. The stock closed at ₹610.15 on the NSE, representing a 6.30% premium over its issue price of ₹574, after touching an intraday peak of ₹624.95.
Joint Chief Executive Officer Devinder Pal Singh holds the largest employee stake in the newly listed firm. His 21.14 lakh shares are now valued at ₹128.9 crore, while his outstanding ESOPs of 5.19 lakh shares add another ₹31.65 crore to his holdings. Singh, a mutual fund veteran with 31 years of industry experience, has spent 25 of those years at SBI Mutual Fund.
The equity-driven rewards extend across the executive suite. Srinivasan Rama Iyer, chief investment officer for equity, holds shares worth ₹111 crore and outstanding ESOPs comprising 8.95 lakh shares worth ₹54.57 crore. Iyer joined the firm in 2009. Srinivasan Jain, who oversees strategy, digital operations and investor relations, holds equity valued at ₹62.14 crore alongside outstanding options worth ₹10.43 crore.
The financial gains are not limited to top management. SBI Funds has allotted 3.68 crore shares to 625 employees since launching the scheme in 2018, according to the IPO prospectus. These shares were granted at prices ranging between ₹38.75 and ₹455 apiece, meaning employees captured significant value as the firm's market capitalization crystallized on Tuesday.
For market participants, the SBI Funds listing illustrates a structural shift in how Indian asset managers compensate key staff. Rapid expansion of the country's mutual fund industry and a surge in assets under management have driven up valuations of listed fund houses.
This dynamic has transformed stock options into a primary mechanism for locking down talent. "Asset management has become an increasingly competitive industry where people matter a lot, and hence ESOP is being increasingly used as a long-term tool to reward and retain people," says Kaustubh Belapurkar, director (fund research), Morningstar India.
