Paytm to offer Rs 250 Cr worth ESOPs this year

Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Paytm has announced that it will offer stock ownership plans or ESOPs worth Rs 250 crore this year to its high performing employees and new hires. 

 Additionally, Paytm is also planning to hire over 500 people for multiple roles apart from continued hiring for roles in its product and technology teams. The company did not disclose the number of employees it would cover in the latest ESOP plan as the appraisal process is still on. 

“Paytm has a high-performance culture and follows a transparent process to evaluate and reward employees. We always ensure to provide ample growth opportunities and engage for feedback from time to time,” said Rohit Thakur, CHRO of Paytm in a statement. 

As part of its general appraisal process, Paytm accesses its employees every year and those at the lower end of the bell curve range are asked to leave the company. However, given the current scenario when the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the startup ecosystem, Paytm has decided to offer an extension of two months to such employees, the statement said. 

Earlier in October, the SoftBank-backed company had added Rs 300 crore to its revised ESOPs scheme. Importantly, faith in ESOPs has increased with many companies allowing employees to divest their part of holding in secondary transactions. 

Ola had recently expanded its ESOPs pool by adding Rs 326.45 crore. Other big names such as BYJU’s, Unacademy, Rivigo, CarDekho, RazorPay, Meesho, Zerodha and Bounce too have expanded their ESOP pools.

To ease ESOP encashment, the government had recently mentioned in the budget about deferred tax payment on employee stock ownership plans.