Sebi ropes in Irdai on Rashmi Saluja's Care Health Esops
₹700 crore, including employee stock options (Esops) of Religare and Care Health totalling ₹480 crore; Religare Finvest Esops worth ₹150-200 crore; and a salary of ₹42 crore. The stock options became the centre of a controversy after the Burman family, which has mounted an open offer for Religare, unleashed withering criticism on Saluja and Religare over the matter. The Burman family, which now controls over 25% in Religare, had criticized Saluja for drawing “excessive" compensation and called for regulatory intervention.
The Religare board and Saluja have rejected all allegations of impropriety. In a statement on 20 November, the Religare board said that the issue of Esops was “in full conformity with the guidelines of the insurance regulator applicable to insurance companies". “You are requested to provide comments on the same interns of the stated Act and the regulations of Irdai at the earliest, so as to enable us to process the draft letter of offer...
The information may be shared on a regulator to regulator basis," the letter said. In January, the dispute worsened after the Burmans cried foul over REL subsidiary Religare Finvest Ltd granting stock options worth ₹150-200 crore totalling an 8% stake to Saluja. Saluja has been credited with turning around the fortunes of Care Health after she took over as chairperson of the fraud-hit Religare group.
Its premium income has grown fivefold during the period, making it the country’s second largest stand-alone health insurer. It underwrote a direct gross premium income of over ₹5,479.38 crore during the April-January period of this fiscal, compared to ₹4,138.74 crore in the same period last year, a 32.39% jump. InGovern had claimed last year that Care Health had issued
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