IT company, Persistent Systems, crossed the billion-dollar revenue mark in FY23 with a market capitalisation of $4.3 billion. Persistent’s founder, chairman and managing director, Anand Deshpande is a billionaire with his wealth estimated at $ 1.4 billion as per the Forbes list. However, it is not just the company and its founders who have gained from the wealth creation at the Pune-based mid-size IT company.
The company’s employees have been part of this growth story. Speaking at the Persistent annual general meeting in Pune on Tuesday, Deshpande said 800 of their employees were now `crorepatis’ because of the company’s employee stock ownership plans.
Persistent has one of the most inclusive employee stock option plans (ESOPs) in the global IT services industry with 80% of employees being able to directly participate in the company’s success as shareholders, Sandeep Kalra, CEO and executive director, Persistent Systems said they were providing employees the opportunity to participate in the value created for shareholders as co-owners in the company. After crossing the $1billion revenue mark, Karla said they were on track to becoming a $ two billion company in four years. The company had grown at 17.5% CAGR since their IPO, Kalra said.
Persistent’s inclusive ESOPS was launched in October 2021, when employees were asking what was in it for them if the company grew and shareholders got their returns. Persistent responded by extending ESOPs to a large section of its global employee base to acknowledge the role played by Persistent employees in the success of the company. It enabled broader participation and create a sense of ownership among employees. Persistent had 14,500 employees at that time.
This was also a way for the company to retain talent and enable employees to participate in the long-term growth story of the company, Sunil Sapre, CFO of the company said at the time of the launch. According to Sapre, ESOPs were being offered to almost 80% of the team and anyone with two years of experience at the company was eligible for ESOP. The global team size has grown to 22,750 employees in 21 countries. Out of this, there are 20,206 employees based in India.
Persistent on Tuesday sought shareholder approval for issuing 5,00,000 shares of Rs 10 each to the ESOP Trust. The allotment price will be Rs 2,789 per equity share and aggregated to Rs 139.45 crore. The company stock was at Rs 4,975 on Tuesday on the BSE.