When SBI Funds Management’s IPO opens on July 14 at a price band of ₹545 to ₹574 per share, the obvious headlines will run on the ₹11,692 crore offer and the promoters’ take. The quieter story sits inside the Draft Red Herring Prospectus: 13 of the asset manager’s long-serving employees are about to become crorepatis through ESOPs granted since 2018.
SBIFM introduced an employee stock option plan in 2018 as a deliberate lever to bridge the pay gap that a public-sector-majority joint venture imposes. Eight years and several market cycles later, the listing day prices those grants at nine-figure valuations for the most senior holders.
The 13 Names the DRHP Quietly Carries
India’s largest asset manager by assets under management will run its 100 percent offer for sale from July 14 to July 16, and the stock is expected to list on the bourses on July 21. SBI owns 61.73 percent of the company, Amundi India Holdings holds 36.26 percent, and the sale is structured entirely as an offer for sale by these two promoters. SBIFM itself will receive no proceeds from the IPO, with all cash flows going to the selling shareholders. Inside the DRHP prospectus tables sits a separate list: 13 employees whose ESOP holdings cross the ₹10 crore mark at the upper band.
Each of those 13 staff holds stock worth at least ₹10 crore at the ₹574 ceiling, putting each on the crorepati list that defines high-net-worth Indian households. The total value locked in the roster runs into several hundred crore rupees at the upper band. The identities, drawn from investment, risk, finance, technology, and compliance functions, surface through ESOP disclosures in the IPO prospectus rather than through any media statement.
The eight-year span from the 2018 ESOP launch to the 2026 listing explains why the figures run this large. Grants layered on top of grants, all vesting through a churn of bull and bear markets, compounded into holdings that a market salary alone could not have produced. The DRHP, available as an Abridged Prospectus on the SEBI portal, maps the share counts and assigned values for each of these 13 employees with five-digit granularity. The roster tilts toward investment, risk, and finance seats, the roles whose decisions move AUM quarter to quarter.
- 13 employees set to cross the crorepati line at the upper band
- ₹574 per share upper price band
- 8 years of ESOP grants since the 2018 scheme
- ₹11,692 crore aggregate offer size per the DRHP
- Listing on July 21 on the NSE and BSE
DP Singh and Vasan Head the ESOP Vesting Order
Devinder Pal Singh, Deputy Managing Director of SBIFM, sits at the top of the list. The DRHP tables put his holdings at 21,14,004 shares worth ₹121 crore at the upper band price of ₹574. The figure is sourced from the SEBI-filed SBIFM’s Abridged Prospectus filing, which breaks out ESOP holdings by named individuals.
Singh is one of the longest-serving employees of the fund house, having joined SBIFM on January 1, 2006. His prior stint was with parent SBI as a Senior Management Grade Scale-V officer, and his transition into the AMC came while SBI’s mutual fund arm was still scaling up. Two decades in, his holdings include 5,19,300 shares in outstanding ESOPs worth another ₹30 crore at the upper band. His accumulated stake reflects sustained grants across the 2018-to-2026 window, with the ESOP policy vesting over multi-year schedules.
Two places below him, Chief Investment Officer Srinivasan Rama Iyer, known internally as Vasan, holds ESOPs of 18,24,728 shares valued at ₹105 crore. His outstanding ESOPs of 8,94,800 shares add another ₹51 crore at the upper band. The gap between Singh’s vested total and Iyer’s outstanding pool reflects where each sits in the eight-year grant cycle, with earlier grants already converted and newer ones awaiting events such as the IPO.
ESOPs granted in 2018 and 2019 are largely vested in Singh’s case, with newer grants still on his outstanding books. The IPO listing is itself a vesting trigger for many of the outstanding grants across the roster. The DRHP filed with SEBI lists these out separately, with vesting schedules stretching beyond listing day and into later windows. The disclosure structure mirrors standard Indian IPO prospectuses where executive stock is enumerated in granular share counts.
The Pay Gap the 2018 ESOP Plan Was Built to Bridge
SBIFM did not always pay market rate. As a public-sector-majority joint venture with SBI and Amundi, the firm has historically sat on a pay scale closer to its parent bank than to its private-sector AMC peers. The 2018 ESOP launch was, by design, a mechanism to bridge that gap rather than a routine bonus. Eight years of grants layered over multiple annual cycles later, the policy has performed that bridging role on the eve of the IPO.
The compensation design worked by tying stock to long tenure. Employees had to stay through vesting windows that ran up to five years from grant, often longer. By the time IPO pricing was finalised in July 2026, the accumulated grants over an eight-year stretch had compounded into holdings that cross nine figures at the upper price band. SBIFM now has a visible offset to the structural pay gap that public-sector JV ownership creates. The DRHP tables make that arithmetic visible in ways annual reports never did.
SBI Funds Management employees’ windfall gains reflect long service and clean track records, while ESOPs help offset relatively lower pay at public sector-owned firms, said a search firm executive.
The remark came from a search firm executive, with the BusinessLine reporting no firm name. Eight years of accumulated grants is what made the difference, and without that runway the 13 crorepatis line would not exist at the upper price band.
The Promoters Cash Out, SBIFM Stays Whole
The IPO is structured as a 100 percent offer for sale. SBI and Amundi India Holdings will offload 12.83 crore and 7.54 crore shares respectively at the upper band, splitting the headline ₹11,692 crore offer size between them. The structure means the headline size goes entirely to the selling shareholders, with SBIFM itself raising nothing from the issue.
SBI owns 61.73 percent of SBIFM after promoting the entity for 35 years. Amundi owns 36.26 percent, having joined the joint venture in 2011 by acquiring the stake previously held by Société Générale Asset Management. From the upper-band sale, SBI is expected to receive ₹7,366.39 crore and Amundi India Holding ₹4,326.51 crore. The Indian government is separately expected to collect ₹1,400 crore as long-term capital gains tax on the promoters’ share sale.
The 13 ESOP-named employees sit outside these flows. Their holdings were granted through the employee stock plan over the 2018-to-2026 window and are separate from the OFS being priced now. Eligible employees of both SBI and SBIFM, applying under the employee reservation, receive shares at a ₹54 per share discount to the final offer price, one of the few places where the IPO allocations and the ESOP universe visibly overlap.
The original DRHP size of ₹11,692.9 crore was trimmed after a pre-IPO placement completed earlier in July, with SBI and Amundi selling a combined 1.6 percent stake to about 30 marquee investors including PI Opportunities Fund and 3P India Equity Fund at the upper price band. The trimmed OFS left SBIFM with SBI at 60.32 percent and Amundi at 36.06 percent post-issue, and shrank the IPO to 17.09 crore shares worth ₹9,812.9 crore. The size of the IPO itself does not change the ESOP figures, which are tied to grants issued between 2018 and the latest cycle.
- SBI pre-issue stake: 61.73 percent
- Amundi pre-issue stake: 36.26 percent
- SBI receipt from upper-band OFS: ₹7,366.39 crore
- Amundi receipt from upper-band OFS: ₹4,326.51 crore
Why the Windfall Reads as Long-Term Pay
The headline framing of “crorepati” sits oddly against the eight-year timeline each of these employees has worked through. ESOPs granted in 2018 vest in 2026 only after the longest churn in modern Indian markets, with multiple cycles of bull and bear runs. A clean performance record across those cycles is what allowed the grants to accumulate. The DRHP disclosures are the public ledger of that long record, published once and read by anyone who can navigate the prospectus.
The list beyond Singh, Iyer, and Jain includes Rajeev Radhakrishnan, CIO for Fixed Income, whose ESOPs are valued at ₹36 crore. Aparna Nirgude, Chief Risk Officer, holds ESOPs at ₹31 crore. Vinaya Datar, Chief Compliance Officer, Company Secretary and Head Legal, holds 3,59,340 shares worth ₹21 crore at the upper band. Srinivas Jain, Chief of Strategy, Digital and Technology and Head of Investor Relations, brings ₹59 crore in vested stock plus ₹10 crore in outstanding ESOPs at the upper band.
Rounding out the roster are Mohan Lal (Fund Manager, Alternatives), Inderjeet Ghuliani (Chief Financial Officer), Mahesh Chhabria (Fund Manager, Corporate Debt Market Development Fund), Rajat Grover (Chief Human Resources Officer and Head, CSR), and Sanjay Pugaonkar (Chief Information Security Officer). The names span investment, risk, operations, and back-office functions in proportions that mirror SBIFM’s organisational chart. None of these individuals were public figures before the DRHP filing.
| Name | Role | ESOP value (upper band) | Outstanding ESOP value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Devinder Pal Singh | Deputy Managing Director | ₹121 crore (21,14,004 shares) | ₹30 crore (5,19,300 shares) |
| Srinivasan Rama Iyer | Chief Investment Officer | ₹105 crore (18,24,728 shares) | ₹51 crore (8,94,800 shares) |
| Srinivas Jain | Chief of Strategy, Digital and Technology | ₹59 crore (10,19,236 shares) | ₹10 crore (1,70,720 shares) |
| Vinaya Datar | Compliance Officer, CS, Head Legal | ₹21 crore (3,59,340 shares) | Not stated in DRHP |
Vested Shares Meet Their Listing-Day Test
SBIFM’s stock lists on the bourses on July 21. ESOP shares typically come with minimum lock-up windows post-listing, meaning the 13 crorepatis will see paper wealth move from DRHP disclosures into demat accounts over a phased schedule. The grey market signal in the days before listing will set the first reading of whether the upper band’s valuations hold. The retail lot for the public issue is set at 26 shares, with the anchor investors’ book having opened on July 13.
SBIFM manages around ₹30 lakh crore in assets across businesses, with SBI Mutual Fund accounting for ₹12.5 lakh crore to ₹13 lakh crore of that total and the remainder in PMS and other vehicles. The combination of scale and ESOP-driven retention has positioned SBIFM as the country’s largest asset manager on both AUM and personnel metrics. Vested ESOPs will test their market value against public-sector pay benchmarks in real time from July 21, and the 13 names will trade on the same ticker that open on day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the SBI Funds Management IPO open for subscription?
The IPO opens on July 14 and closes on July 16, 2026 at the ₹545-574 price band. The anchor investors’ book opened a day earlier on July 13, and listing is expected on the NSE and BSE on July 21.
Why will 13 SBIFM employees become crorepatis from the IPO?
Thirteen long-serving employees hold ESOP shares that vest at the upper band price of ₹574, putting each at the ₹10 crore-or-more mark that defines a crorepati in Indian parlance. The ESOP scheme was launched in 2018, so eight years of layered grants across the tenured staff sit inside the DRHP tables.
Who holds the largest ESOP stake in SBI Funds Management?
Deputy Managing Director Devinder Pal Singh holds the largest ESOP stake at 21,14,004 shares, valued at ₹121 crore at the upper band price of ₹574. He also has 5,19,300 shares in outstanding ESOPs worth ₹30 crore at the same price.
Does SBI Funds Management itself receive money from the IPO?
No. SBI Funds Management is conducting a 100 percent offer for sale by its promoters SBI and Amundi India Holdings, so all proceeds go to the selling shareholders rather than to the company. SBIFM’s balance sheet stays untouched, and the listing primarily creates a market for existing shares.
What discount do SBI and SBIFM employees get on the IPO?
Eligible employees of both SBI and SBIFM receive shares at a discount of ₹54 per share to the final offer price. SBI shareholders are also reserved a quota of over 1.30 crore equity shares in the IPO’s allocation structure, carved out before the QIB, NII, and retail buckets.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Investing in IPOs carries risk, including the risk of partial or total capital loss. The figures cited reflect pricing as of publication and are subject to change. Consult a SEBI-registered investment advisor before participating in the SBI Funds Management IPO. Retail investors should review the DRHP and RHP at SEBI before applying.
