CarTrade Allots Additional Equity Shares Under ESOP Plans

Online classifieds and auto auction platform CarTrade has allotted an additional 65,750 equity shares under its existing employee stock option plans (ESOP).

The company said in a regulatory filing today (December 20) that its board approved the allotment of 65,750 equity shares at a face value INR 10 each to eligible employees pursuant to exercise of vested options under Employee Stock Option Plan 2015 and Employee Stock Option Plan 2021.

Under ESOP 2015, 50,500 equity shares were allotted, while the remaining 15,250 was allotted as per ESOP 2021.

The filing further said, “We wish to clarify that aforesaid allotment of shares is not material in nature to the company.”

With the fresh allotment, the issued and paid-up equity share capital of the Mumbai-based company has increased to INR 47,36,70,850 Cr from INR 47,30,13,350 Cr earlier.

Following this allotment, the total issued shares stand at 4,73,67,085.

The stock of the Goldman Sachs-backed company rose as high as 3.86% to INR 1,595.95 per share, in the intraday trading session on the BSE today. As per its last closing price of INR 1,536.50, the newly-allotted equity shares are worth INR 10.09 Lakh.

The Mumbai-based startup previously allocated an additional 50,000 shares to its employees under ESOP 2015, in August. Prior to that, CarTrade expanded its ESOP pool by allotting an additional 28,000 stock options to its employees, in July.

CarTrade’s stock was last up about 3% at INR 1,582.30, as of 1:38 PM, on the BSE during intraday trading session today.

Founded in 2009 by Vinay Sanghi and Rajan Mehra, CarTrade facilitates the sale of both new and used vehicles. It operates brands like OLX India, CarWale, BikeWale, CarTradeExchange, Shriram Automall, Adroit Auto, and Autobiz. It also provides technology solutions to OEMs and dealers. 

The auto marketplace recorded a 509% year-on-year jump in its consolidated net profit to INR 30.72 Cr in the September quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 5.04 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Meanwhile, its revenue from operations rose 28.4% to INR 154.20 Cr in the second quarter, from INR 120 Cr, a year ago. 

This development comes at a time when numerous startups have been encouraging their employees to participate in ESOPs throughout this year, where companies like Paytm, Zomato and Delhivery have introduced multiple rounds of stock options for employees’ to take benefit.

Earlier this week, drone manufacturing startup IdeaForge allotted an additional 4,126 equity shares under its existing employee stock option plan (ESOP), which as per the stock’s last closing price, the equity shares allotted were worth INR 26.42 Lakh.