Razorpay gives ESOPs worth Rs 1 lakh to over 3000 employees

Fintech unicorn Razorpay has announced an allotment of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) worth Rs 1 lakh to all its 3,000-plus employees. The announcement came amid the company’s 10th anniversary, as the fintech company decided to reward its employees, or “Razors” as they are referred to.

Harshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO of Razorpay, said the move to allocate ESOPs is the company’s way of ensuring every teammate gets to share in the company’s success as they go along, simplifying the movement of funds and creating greater value for companies in India and abroad.

It was the company’s long-term thinking and value creation that prompted it to reward the hard work put in by the team by giving ESOPs to all employees, said Shashank Kumar, Co-Founder and Managing Director.

This is the third employee liquidity event organized by Razorpay. In 2018, it allowed 140 employees to liquidate their vested shares, and in 2022, 650 employees benefited from a larger $75 million buyback.

With an employee base of at least 3,000 employees, and ESOPs of Rs 1 lakh each, Razorpay’s offering translates to an ESOP value of Rs 30 lakh. Razorpay said it’s unusual for companies to take such an initiative on such a large scale, and for many employees this represents their first ESOPs.

Meanwhile, the company has reportedly begun the process of moving its headquarters to India from the US. It makes sense for them to be listed in a market where people know them, Mathur told The Times of India. He said that although flipping comes at a significant cost, they feel it is worth it.

The company aims to go public in 2026.