In an unrestrained interview with businessine, Religare Enterprises Chairperson Rashmi Saluja expressed frustration over policymakers’ and investigative agencies’ limited understanding of Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs), warning that this lack of awareness risks undermining ESOPs as a key tool for wealth creation and talent retention in Corporate India.
Saluja, currently defending a corporate takeover battle launched by the Burman family, also strongly refuted the allegations made in the recent InGovern report, calling it “malafide and irresponsible.”
Excerpts :
Have you become an easy target because you are a woman? What do you say about the ED raids and campaigns against you as REL Chairperson?
Being a woman becomes an easy target. It has made life difficult, but I am determined to fight it out. Why should I take injustice to me? They feel that as a woman, I will be vulnerable and crumble down, so I might as well do it. Unfortunately, the safeguards of being a woman professional or woman entrepreneur that I should be getting, as we have been hearing from the Prime Minister’s vision in India where women in this country should be considered goddesses, I am definitely far from a goddess for now, and that is not how I have been treated.
As of now, I have not even thought for a moment in the last six years that I am any less than the best. But it starts hurting you professionally and personally when people from normal backgrounds who have educated themselves join the company. After doing their best, instead of getting kudos for the work they have done, what one is left with is to face the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
What do you think about ESOPs issued by REL and subsidiaries becoming a PMLA matter? Are you disappointed?
I am disappointed but not disheartened or discouraged. I am disappointed that my personal ESOPs have been frozen, but I can cope with it because I know the truth will prevail. Justice will come through, but the journey will be torturous. However, it is going to be discouraging for more people (including some in middle management) than me as their ESOPs have now come under PMLA investigation.
For what …because you have been rewarded for creating wealth for shareholders, and hence, your own ESOP which is incentive-linked, should not have been there. Now, every decision that was a company policy before several of our employees joined and for which they were given ESOPs has become a PMLA investigation matter. These ESOPs were given a couple of years back, and why were they not under PMLA then?
Do you feel that policymakers and investigating agencies understand little about how ESOPs work in Corporate India?
Absolutely. This is the first time in Corporate India’s history that ESOPs have been made a PMLA issue. I feel there should be a strong education process for people to understand ESOPs better. ESOPs are still a sub-judice matter for us. We need a bigger debate on ESOPs in this country. I am at a loss to understand where we have gotten ourselves to. The absence of understanding of how ESOPs work among policymakers and investigating agencies should not hamper the economic growth and wealth creation of the country.
Are they saying you have realised unlawful gains through ESOPs?
There has been no realisation of gains (not a single rupee) on my part and entire money has gone back to company only. I have not realised a single penny. What I have done is paid the taxes and put the money in the company.
Do you think ESOPs have become a bad word in Corporate India?
In fact, doing good has become a bad word. We have always grown up with a very conscious understanding that if you do good, good things will happen to you. This doesn’t look like that.
What is your comment on the InGovern report? Do you think the report is mischievous?
I know that it is an irresponsible report. It is a malafide report. We have sent them a legal notice. I am not letting anybody tarnish the reputation of the company and the individuals who are strongly working for the prosperity of the company be taken in the way they have written. Where were they in the last six years? Did they even write or publish a single report on Religare? They are writing only on things the acquirers have been talking about. They did not have the courtesy of reaching out to organisation before writing or publishing the report. You may like one set of people. At least for the fairness of your job, do the right thing. For me, the report is a trash. Even facts in the report are inappropriate.
Why was the AGM of Religare Enterprises postponed? Are you looking postpone further beyond end December 2024?
The reason the AGM was postponed is exactly what we had notified in the stock exchanges. The reason is the potential impact the open offer —which is awaiting statutory/regulatory approval —would have on the shareholding pattern of the company. The shareholding pattern will change if open offer goes through.
InGovern says you have postponed the AGM because you fear being voted out?
This means InGovern or Organisations like them already know the outcome of the AGM. This is the bizarrest thing I have heard. By that argument, I really did not know the outcome last year also when they were talking about insider trading, and I should have postponed the AGM last year also. The AGM last year happened after the open offer was announced. Please note that this year is the second AGM after the open offer.
Was my desire to get reappointed so sacrosanct that I let one AGM happen and postponed the next? It was a collective decision of the Board and they wanted, pending statutory approval/regulatory approval for the open offer, more clarity on outcome on shareholding pattern post open offer for sure.
So, there is no fear of you being voted out at the AGM?
Absolutely not. I am doing a job (executive chairperson) till the time I am entrusted to do it.