Flipkart employees to cash in on ESOPs worth USD 800 million

New Delhi: Walmart-backed Flipkart will offer its employees an opportunity to cash in on part of their stockholding in the company at USD 126-128 per share, according to an e-mail to staff.

The e-mail, which follows the USD 16-billion deal of Walmart to buy majority holding in the Indian e-commerce major, said eligible staff members will be allowed to liquidate part of their employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) at USD 126-128 per unit. This would translate into a total sum of about USD 800 million (around Rs 5,755 crore).

In a recent filing to the US SEC, Walmart had said it has "reserved 11,947,026 company ordinary shares for issuance under the company option plans, of which options to purchase 6,242,271 company ordinary shares are outstanding as of the agreement date".

When contacted, a Flipkart spokesperson said the ESOP repurchase programme is part of its "continuing efforts to thank and reward our employees for their service".

"Flipkart has a strong culture of fairness and does acknowledge that employees are an invaluable asset. We take immense pride in being the employer of choice and believe in rewarding employees by making them partners in the organisation's success," the spokesperson said.

In December last year, Flipkart had bought back ESOPs worth over USD 100 million from over 3,000 current and former employees of the company as well as its other units like Myntra, Jabong and PhonePe.

The mega deal, which saw Walmart buying 77 per cent stake in Flipkart, was announced on May 10 this year.

With festive season around the corner in India, the e-commerce major is also gearing up to tap into newer users with the introduction of 'Cardless Credit' as a new payment option. This facility will enable millions of customers to get an instant credit line of up to Rs 60,000 to make purchases.

"This is aimed at millions of credit worthy yet underserved customers who the traditional banks are not able to serve / underwrite credit for," it said.

Stating that only an estimated 20 million people have a credit card, Flipkart said cardless credit is a step in the direction to make e-commerce more inclusive and help customers with small ticket credit line.