Also in the letter:
■ Red flag for green cards
■ GCCs & IT layoffs
■ Truemeds’ fundraise
Blinkit founder Albinder Dhindsa leads Rs 419-crore Esop exercise at Eternal
Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Blinkit
More than 140 executives at Zomato and Blinkit’s parent, Eternal, have exercised employee stock options worth Rs 419 crore over two days (July 29 and 30), according to a stock exalter filing.
Tell me more:
- Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa’s exercising of seven million Eternal shares worth Rs 214.51 crore, accounted for more than half the value.
- Thirty-one other senior executives also exercised options worth more than Rs 1 crore each.
Jargon buster: Exercising options involves purchasing shares at a pre-agreed “strike price,” usually lower than the current market value. Once exercised, employees can choose to hold or sell them at the market price.
But why? “When a company’s stock price rises, executives with vested stock options are often encouraged to exercise them,” declared a chartered accountant at a Big Four firm. “If vested options remain outstanding when the share price is on an upswing, the unrealised Esop expense keeps sitting in the company’s books, and that hurts the bottom line.”
Eternal rally: Eternal shares have been trading near seven-month highs. On Friday, the stock closed marginally lower at Rs 300.80, giving the company a market capitalisation of Rs 2.9 lakh crore.
Also Read: Zomato’s large-bang market debut mints 18 dollar millionaires
Early trconcludes signal more festive cheer for ecommerce
India’s ecommerce players are preparing for their busiest festive season in years, with early signs indicating a 15–20% increase in order volumes. Analysts and brands declare the rise is noticeable from initial sale events and strong demand during Raksha Bandhan.
Tell me more:
- During the 2024 festive season, ecommerce gross merchandise value (GMV) reached $12 billion.
- Smaller cities took centre stage last year, with tier-II and beyond achieving 13% festive GMV growth compared to 9% in 2023.
Sales surge:
- Fashion label Libas has notched up 30-35% higher early festive sales than last year.
- Men’s streetwear brand Hoapply of Koala experienced a 50% rise in July sales compared to the previous year.
Also Read: Quick commerce platforms see festive sales rise for Raksha Bandhan
Qcomm not behind: Quick commerce is adjusting rapidly, broadening product offerings to fulfil festive demand. Consumer electronics brand GoBoult has seen a 70% rise in its quick commerce sales over the past six months.
Also read: D2C brands lining up to list on quick commerce platforms in festive season
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H-1B children lose green card shot at 21 under new rules
Children of Indians on H-1B and other non-immigrant US visas could now ‘age out’ before being considered for green cards, following alters to the counattempt’s immigration rules.
Driving the news: Previously, US laws “locked” a child’s age until a green card was issued, assisting families stuck in long backlogs. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) declared on August 8 it will now calculate age applying the final action date—the cut-off when an immigrant visa becomes available— under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA).
Impact: This shift means children turning 21 before the visa cut-off could be excluded from their parents’ green card applications. Those filing from August 15 face the most significant risk.
Picture so far:
- Indians account for 62% of the US employment-based green card backlog.
- Over 1 million green card petitions were pconcludeing as of March 2023 under employment-based green card categories—EB-2 and EB-3, according to the US-based policy consider tank Cato Institute.
Also Read: O-1 for the books! Elite talent finds new route to US
Keeping Count
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
GCCs in the spotlight in India’s IT layoff story: Global capability centres (GCCs) are diverting both business and talent away from leading IT services companies. Although indusattempt veterans and recruiters see long-term benefits for the counattempt’s talent pool, the software sector, and the economy, Indian IT faces short-term challenges due to the GCC boom.
Truemeds raises funds for expansion: Telehealth platform Truemeds secured an $85 million funding round, with the funds allocated to expanding fulfilment centres to triple its national coverage, growing its team, and establishing a technology hub in Bengaluru.
Robotics startup Neuralzome bags fresh capital: Robotics deeptech startup Neuralzome Cybernetic raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding to speed up the deployment of its autonomous robotics solutions across sectors, including precision agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and logistics.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Inside Dylan Field’s large IPO—and his even largeger plans for Figma (Wired)
■ AI and Trump put consulting firms under pressure (Axios)
■ The UAE is giving away its advanced AI (Rest of World)
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