Swiggy rewards staff for recovery amid Covid, offers $7-9 mn in ESOPs

Stock ownership plan also embraces laid-off employees as firm gets back to 80-85% of pre-Covid business

Swiggy has initiated an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) liquidity programme worth around $7-9 million for its existing employees and those who were laid off by the food delivery giant due to the impact by Covid-19 pandemic. “The programme is for the current employees as well as the laid-off staff, who hold ESOPs," said an industry source.

In May, the Bengaluru-based unicorn laid off 1,100 employees across grades and functions, as Covid-19 continued to infect its food delivery and cloud kitchen business. Backed by China's Tencent and Prosus NV, Swiggy had around 8,000 employees at that time. In July, it