Flipkart sells marginal stake of ESOPs for around Rs180-240 crore

In a first by an Indian e-commerce company, Flipkart has sold a marginal stake worth Rs180 - Rs240 crore in its employee trust fund to high net worth individuals over the past few weeks, The Economic Times reported.

With the move, the eight-year-old firm online retailer has opened an exit option for its employees to cash out.

The move gave employees holding stock options an avenue to monetise them, something they normally would not be able to do in the absence of a listing.

Flipkart hopes that be enabling staff to monetise on their ESOP's would help it retain talent.

"At Flipkart, we believe the reason for our remarkable growth has been our people who have demonstrated immense ownership and have consistently gone way beyond the call of duty," a company spokesperson told the newspaper.

"The employee trust is a structure to facilitate employee liquidity across all levels depending on the amount of vested options. This is a repeatable structure and we do intend to use it as we go along at least on an annual basis," the spokesperson added.