Blinkit founder Albinder Dhindsa leads Rs 419-crore Eternal Esop exercise
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
More than 140 executives at Eternal exercised employee stock options worth Rs 419 crore over July 29 and 30, according to stock exchange disclosures made by the parent of food and grocery delivery platforms Zomato and Blinkit Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa alone accounted for over half the value, while 31 other top executives also converted options to buy shares worth more than Rs 1 crore each.They included restaurant grocery supply arm Hyperpure CEO Rishi Arora, former food delivery CEO Rakesh Ranjan, his successor Aditya Mangla, and corporate development head Kunal Swarup. Together, they exercised shares worth Rs 378.50 crore — forming 90% of the two-day transactions.Nearly half of these 32 executives were from Blinkit, while the rest were split between Eternal, Zomato, Hyperpure, and going-out business District, stock market disclosures showed.Dhindsa converted options to buy seven million Eternal shares worth Rs 214.51 crore.His stock option exercise is conducted as per a board-approved schedule, people aware of the matter told ET.To exercise stock options means to buy the shares at a pre-agreed price, as per the employment agreement of the executive. The pre-agreed price, or strike price, at which they can buy the shares could be different for each executive. The strike price is typically lower than the market price.Once exercised, employees can choose to either hold on to the shares or sell them at market rate.Eternal's stock has been at its highest levels over the last seven months. On Friday, it ended 0.3% lower at Rs 300.80 apiece, valuing the company at Rs 2.9 lakh crore, or $33 billion.'When a company's stock price rises, executives with vested stock options are often encouraged to exercise them,' a chartered accountant with a Big Four firm said. 'If vested options remain outstanding when the share price is on an upswing, the unrealised Esop expense keeps sitting in the company's books and that hurts the bottom line.'Anshuman Das, CEO of executive search firm Longhouse, said, 'Exercising stock options triggers an income tax liability at the point of conversion to shares. When the sums involved are substantial, some executives choose to hold on to their stock, aiming to cover that tax payout with gains from upside in the company's share price.'Among executives who exercised the option, Swarup bought stocks worth Rs 25.2 crore, while Zomato's logistics AVP Aadish Dhakad converted options worth Rs 24.1 crore. Senior Blinkit executives Udit Gupta and Anish Srivastava have exercised stock worth Rs 14.8 crore and Rs 14.1 crore, respectively. Hyperpure's Arora converted options to stock worth Rs 9.5 crore, while Blinkit CTO Sajal Gupta exercised options worth Rs 6.6 crore.'For senior leaders, it is as much a strategic wealth-creation move as it is a show of confidence in the company's long-term prospects,' Das said.Eternal did not respond to ET's queries.Blinkit has maintained its leadership position in the fiercely competitive quick commerce segment, where it rivals players such as Zepto, Swiggy's Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, Tata Digital-backed BigBasket, Reliance's JioMart and Amazon Now.For the quarter ended June 30, Blinkit's gross order value (GOV) increased 140% year-on-year to Rs 11,821 crore — surpassing, for the first time, Zomato's GOV of Rs 10,769 crore.However, competitive intensity in the quick commerce sector and the rapid expansion being undertaken by Blinkit pulled Eternal's net profit down 90% to Rs 25 crore Blinkit added 243 dark stores during April-June, taking its total store count to 1,544 as of June 30. Eternal announced its intent to open 3,000 stores over time, and said it was on track to have 2,000 such micro warehouses — from where 10-minute deliveries are made — by December.'We continue to believe the street is under-appreciating market share gains for Blinkit over the next two to three quarters as competition focuses on improving profitability, with potential for further share gains beyond FY26 on the back of the new 3,000 store guidance by Blinkit,' brokerage firm Goldman Sachs said in a research note.Eternal (then Zomato) was one of the first large domestic consumer internet startups to go public in July 2021, and it created 18 dollar millionaires through its Rs 9,375 crore initial public offering (IPO). This included founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal, and former top executives Gunjan Patidar, Mohit Gupta, Gaurav Gupta and Akriti Chopra.Over the past decade of India's internet economy, Flipkart has emerged among the biggest wealth creators, having conducted Esop buybacks aggregating to around $1.5 billion across various tranches since 2018. The ecommerce marketplace rolled out a $50-million Esop buyback this year.'In fast-growing and highly competitive sectors, where leadership can directly influence growth trajectories and valuations, stock-based incentives align the interests of executives with long-term company performance,' Das of Longhouse said. 'They reward past contributions while also creating a strong motivation for leaders to stay invested in the company's success.'Esops had emerged as a prominent compensation tool in India during the rise of the country's software services giants, with companies such as Infosys using them to reward and retain talent. In the run-up to a public listing, firms often allocate additional stock options to founders and senior executives to incentivise sustained performance and align interests with shareholder value creation.In the case of legacy IT services companies, the gap between the employee wealth pool and founder or promoter wealth was also significant. However, founders in these firms retained a larger shareholding because they relied less on external capital, avoiding the kind of stake dilution seen in many newer, venture-backed businesses.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
12 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Rs 2.4 crore salary without IIT or IIM: Father lost everything in stocks, son says 'life has been wonderful'
Synopsis A Delhi man has shared how he built a successful career without an IIT or IIM degree, despite his family facing a major setback in 2008 when his father lost everything in the stock market. Detailing his journey in a Reddit post, he described starting with a Rs 35,000 monthly salary in 2014 and eventually moving to the US in 2022, where he now earns over Rs 2.4 crore annually. Alongside career growth, he has prioritised travel, relationships, and unique life experiences, believing that health and time are more valuable than money beyond a certain point. Delhi Man Built a Rs 2.4 Crore Career After Father's Stock Market Loss. (Representative Image) In 2008, a middle-class family in Delhi faced a major setback when the father lost everything in the stock market. More than a decade later, his son — who never attended IIT or IIM — has built a successful career overseas, earning more than Rs 2.4 crore annually, and says his life has been 'wonderful.'He shared his journey in a Reddit post, describing his upbringing, education, career path, and the experiences that shaped his perspective. Born and raised in Delhi, he grew up in a middle-class home where his parents were relaxed and did not put pressure on him. The 2008 financial loss was the only significant difficulty in his early school, he took part in dramatics, dancing, socialising with friends, and other activities. He opted for science in Class 12 to gain social validation but had no interest in engineering or medicine. Later, he completed both his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Delhi began working in 2014 with a monthly take-home salary of Rs 35,000. In 2016, he changed jobs to be closer to his family and girlfriend, increasing his salary to Rs 60,000. Another switch in 2017 took his earnings to Rs 90,000 per with the same company for the next five years, he was earning Rs 2 lakh per month in India by 2021. In 2022, he moved to the United States after being offered an overseas position. His annual pay was $202,000 that year, $231,000 in 2023, and $255,000 in 2024. For 2025, he expects to end the year at $275,000 — over Rs 2.4 his career, he continued to enjoy life. He married his college sweetheart, is expecting his first child, and has travelled to 17 countries across four continents. His travels and activities have ranged from bullock cart rides to luxury flights, and from skydiving to whale said money is important up to a certain level, but beyond that, health, relationships, and experiences take priority. Time, he noted, cannot be regained, while money can be earned at any stage of life.
Economic Times
12 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Vikram Solar says co evaluating plans to set up manufacturing unit in the US
Representative image. Solar photovoltaic modules maker Vikram Solar is evaluating plans to set up operations in the US, company chairman and managing director Gyanesh Chaudhary told ET. "We are evaluating our plans to set up operations in the US and looking at how things will pan out in the light of the tariffs," Chaudhary said on to sources, Vikram Solar was planning to invest around $1.5 billion in setting up a 3 GW (gigawatt) solar photovoltaic modules plant in the US as part of the company's expansion plan of 15.5 GW module and 5 GW cell capacity by fiscal year however declined to comment on the investments being planned in the possible US facility. The company, which has filed a draft prospectus for its initial public offer, has a 4.5 GW module manufacturing capacity across its two plants in Bengal and Tamil Nadu. It has a sales office in the US which is also its largest export market, contributing around 61.10% of the company's total revenue from operations as of Wednesday the company fixed a price band of Rs 315 to Rs 332 per share for its upcoming Rs 2,079 crore initial public offering (IPO). The Kolkata-based firm's maiden public issue would open for subscription on August 19 and conclude on August 21, it IPO will include fresh issues of equities worth up to Rs 1,500 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of over 1.74 crore shares valued at around Rs 579.37 crore at the upper end of the price band, by its promoters. Of the fresh issuance, the company plans to use the proceeds for funding capital expenditure for investment in its wholly owned subsidiary, VSL Green Power Private Ltd, for both Phase I and Phase II of the project. Vikram Solar commenced its manufacturing operations in 2009 with an installed solar PV module manufacturing capacity of 12 MW, grown to 4.50 GW installed capacity as of the date. The company said its key domestic customers include prominent government entities, such as NTPC, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, and Gujarat Industries Power Company and private independent power producers (IPPs), like ACME Cleantech Solutions Adani Green Energy, Azure Power India, JSW Energy and Rays Power Infra, among others. The company is also planning to enter the battery energy storage systems (BESS) segment as a strategy to diversify its portfolio. It plans to start with a 1 GW BESS facility which will be scaled up to 10 GW or more.
Economic Times
12 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Startup IPOs deliver only 36% long-term return for investors: Report
Investors in initial public offerings (IPOs) of new-age tech companies have earned just 36% average returns, and only 32% of those who invested after listing have made gains, according to a report by advisory firm Client Associates. Titled The New-Age IPO Performance Analysis, the report examined 25 new-age tech IPOs launched between May 2020 and June 2025 across sectors including fintech, logistics, consumer internet, and software-as-a-service (SaaS). It assessed investor returns at three stages, pre-IPO, IPO, and post-IPO, using the BSE 500 as a benchmark. Mixed outcomes Startups like Ixigo and Zaggle delivered strong pre-IPO returns of 89.21% and 62.47%, respectively, while Ola Electric posted a 60.13% loss in the same phase. Overall, pre-IPO investments generated average returns of 43%, outperforming IPO and post-IPO investments. 'This assessment tells you that most prices have been driven by frenzy rather than business fundamentals,' said Shashank Agarwal, associate director at Client Associates. 'Unless you're an institutional investor, most retail investors chase market noise.' While companies such as Zomato and PolicyBazaar have fared better, others including Paytm, Ola Electric, and Mobikwik have significantly underperformed. The report argued that hype and narrative, rather than strong fundamentals, have driven most retail participation. IPO wave In 2024 alone, 13 new-age tech companies went public, raising close to Rs 29,070 crore. The list includes Swiggy, Go Digit, TBO Tek, Awfis, Ola Electric, FirstCry, Ixigo, and Unicommerce. The surge in tech-led IPOs has been fuelled by digital adoption, favourable demographics, and strong capital inflows, a shift from earlier IPO waves dominated by industrial and BFSI compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 121% between September 2021 and May 2025, compared with just 37% for those listed on the National Stock Exchange. Investors in BSE-listed shares earned 84% more annually than those holding NSE's unlisted shares over the past four years. Agarwal said BSE's listed status gives investors confidence, while NSE's IPO delays and regulatory challenges have made investors more cautious. Despite this, retail investors are actively buying unlisted shares of market infrastructure firms such as NSE and the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), even though these are illiquid and hard to trade. Unlisted vs listed returns Over the last four years, NSE's unlisted shares have returned 37%, while listed rival BSE surged 194%. Similarly, NSDL's unlisted shares gained 35% compared with a 69% return from listed competitor CDSL. The report concluded that while pre-IPO investments in select new-age companies have delivered strong returns, the IPO and post-IPO phases have been far less rewarding for most retail investors. It cautioned that chasing hype without assessing business fundamentals exposes investors to significant downside risk.
