Deputy Managing Director, DP Singh and CIO, Srinivasan Rama Iyer top the list, with holdings worth more than ₹100 crore each
| Photo Credit:
Indranil Aditya
The much-awaited SBI Funds Management (SBIFM) initial public offerings (IPO) will not only make its promoters and the government laugh all the way to the bank but also reward some of its top employees handsomely.
The country’s largest fund house, which introduced an employee stock option plan (ESOP) in 2018, has been rewarding its long-serving top management employees with liberal stock options. Now, the IPO will make 13 of them crorepatis. This is probably a testimony to the industry’s tagline: “Mutual Fund Sahi Hai”.
The fund house’s Deputy Managing Director, Devinder Pal Singh, who is one of its longest-serving employees, owns 21,14,004 shares worth ₹121 crore at the upper band of the offer price of ₹574 a share. That’s not all. He has outstanding ESOPs of 5,19,300 shares worth another ₹30 crore, according to data sourced from the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP).
An MF industry veteran, Singh joined SBIFM on January 1, 2006. Previously, he was associated with SBI as a Senior Management Grade Scale-V officer.
The fund house’s Chief Investment Officer, Srinivasan Rama Iyer (fondly known as Vasan) owns ESOPs of 18,24,728 shares worth ₹105 crore and has outstanding ESOPs of 8,94,800 shares worth ₹51 crore.
Similarly, the 10,19,236 shares owned by Srinivas Jain, Chief of Strategy, Digital & Technology and Head of Investor Relations, under ESOPs are worth ₹59 crore. Besides, his outstanding ESOPs of 1,70,720 shares are worth another ₹10 crore.
Eyeing over ₹11,600 crore
The promoters of the fund house –SBI and European fund management company Amundi India Holdings – will offload 12.83 crore shares and 7.54 crore shares, respectively, to collectively rake in ₹11,692 crore. The government is expected to collect ₹1,400 crore from the selling promoters as long-term capital gains tax.
The ESOPs of Rajeev Radhakrishnan, Chief Investment Officer—Fixed Income, and Aparna Nirgude, Chief Risk Officer, are worth ₹36 crore and ₹31 crore, respectively. Vinaya Datar, Chief Compliance Officer, Company Secretary and Head Legal, can walk away with ₹21 crore from her availed ESOPs of 3,59,340 shares.
Other crorepatis
The other crorepati employees of SBI Funds Management include 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, Corporate Social Responsibility) and Sanjay Pugaonkar (Chief Information Security Officer).
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.
Published on July 12, 2026
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