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Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the Managing Director and CEO of One97 Communications (which owns Paytm), has voluntarily given up 2.1 crore shares worth around Rs 1,800 crore.
These shares were originally granted to him as part of an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) during Paytm’s stock market listing. The surrendered shares will now return to the company’s ESOP pool under its 2019 plan.
Based on Paytm’s recent share price of Rs 864.5, the value of these shares is about Rs 1,815 crore.
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"Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company vide letter dated April 16, 2025 has informed the company that he has voluntarily forgone all 2,10,00,000 (Two Crore Ten Lakhs) ESOPs granted to him under One 97 Employees Stock Option Scheme, 2019, with immediate effect," the filing said.
"This will result in a one-time, non-cash, acceleration of ESOP expense of Rs 492 crores in the fourth quarter of financial year 2025, and an equivalent lowering of ESOP expenses in future years," the filing said.
In early 2024, Paytm received a show-cause notice from SEBI (India’s markets regulator) questioning the grant of these ESOPs to Sharma for the financial year ending March 2022.
SEBI had concerns about how Sharma was classified during Paytm’s IPO in 2021. At the time, he was listed only as an employee—not as a promoter. Just before the IPO, Sharma transferred a large number of his shares (about 31 million) to a family trust to bring his direct stake below 10%, possibly to avoid being classified as a promoter.
A year before the IPO, he held around 14.7% of the company; this dropped to 9.1% after the transfer.
SEBI believes Sharma should have been labeled a promoter, and under SEBI rules, promoters are not allowed to receive ESOPs after a company goes public.
The investigation reportedly started after inputs from the RBI, which was also reviewing Paytm Payments Bank at the time.
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