SBI funds listing makes employee shareholdings more valuable. Here's who gained the most crores

Years of holding employee stock options paid off handsomely for SBI Funds Management's senior leadership on Tuesday, as the asset manager's stock market debut significantly boosted the value of their shareholdings and unlocked multi-crore gains for several executives.

SBI Funds Management made a strong debut on Dalal Street, listing at a premium of around 7% over its IPO price. The stock opened at ₹610 on the BSE, up 6.27% from the issue price of ₹574, while it listed at ₹613.30 on the NSE.

The listing has translated years of employee stock ownership into substantial paper wealth. Based on the IPO issue price of ₹574 per share, 13 employees hold equity stakes valued at more than ₹1 crore.

Deputy Managing Director Devinder Pal Singh stands to gain the most, with his vested shareholding valued at around ₹121 crore, according to the company's prospectus. The next largest holding belongs to Chief Investment Officer Srinivasan Rama Iyer, whose stake is worth about ₹105 crore, according to a report by The Economic Times.

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At the IPO price, Singh's 21.14 lakh vested shares are valued at nearly ₹121 crore. In addition, he owns unvested stock options that could be worth about ₹30 crore if exercised in the future. Iyer's 18.25 lakh vested shares have an estimated value of around ₹105 crore, while his unvested options are valued at roughly ₹51 crore at the offer price.

Several other senior executives are also in line for sizeable gains. Chief of Strategy, Digital & Technology and Head of Investor Relations Srinivas Jain holds vested shares worth close to ₹59 crore.

Chief Investment Officer – Fixed Income Rajeev Radhakrishnan has holdings valued at about ₹36 crore, while Chief Risk Officer Aparna Nirgude's vested stake is worth approximately ₹31 crore.

Chief Compliance Officer, Company Secretary and Head of Legal Vinaya Datar owns vested shares with an estimated value of around ₹21 crore, the report said.

The list of employee shareholders also includes senior leaders from finance, human resources, technology and fund management. Among them are Chief Financial Officer Inderjeet Ghuliani, Chief Human Resources Officer Rajat Grover, Chief Information Security Officer Sanjay Pugaonkar, and fund managers Mohan Lal and Mahesh Chhabria, each of whom holds vested shares worth more than ₹1 crore at the IPO issue price.

Originally launched in 2018 and revised subsequently, the ESOP programme allotted options with exercise prices ranging from about ₹39 to ₹455 per share. With the IPO priced at ₹574 per share, employees who remained with the company through its expansion have realised significant gains on these grants.

The company entered the market after attracting robust institutional demand. Ahead of the IPO opening, SBI Funds raised nearly ₹2,663 crore from anchor investors, with 129 marquee institutions—including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs—participating in the allocation. It had also secured approximately ₹1,880 crore through a pre-IPO placement.

Investor interest remained strong throughout the three-day subscription period from July 14 to July 16. The issue was subscribed nearly 42 times overall, driven primarily by qualified institutional buyers, whose portion was oversubscribed around 140 times. The non-institutional investor category saw subscriptions of 22.51 times, while the retail segment was subscribed 3.6 times.