E-commerce major Flipkart has announced its second discretionary ESOP liquidity event, allowing eligible employees to liquidate up to five percent of the stock options vested over the past three years at a price of Rs 713.4 per option.
The payout, approved by the company's board, comes as the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant cited strong business growth despite a challenging macroeconomic environment. It also comes months after it redomiciled to India, with plans for an eventual listing here.
In an internal email reviewed by Moneycontrol, Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said the company's board had approved the "second discretionary ESOP liquidity event" after reviewing the progress made against goals set when Flipkart announced the two-part buyback programme last year.
"As you may recall, last year we had shared that there would be two liquidity events, with the second being subject to us meeting certain goals," Krishnamurthy wrote. "After reviewing the progress we have made together, the Board has approved this second discretionary ESOP liquidity event."
Under the Flipkart Stock Option Plan 2026, all active employees as of July 15, 2026, will be eligible to liquidate up to 5 percent of their outstanding stock options vested between July 16, 2023, and July 15, 2026. The liquidity price has been fixed at Rs 713.4 per option, with payments scheduled in August.
Flipkart did not immediately respond to queries sent by Moneycontrol.
The latest liquidity event closes out Flipkart's $50 million ESOP liquidity programme announced in July last year, which benefited more than 7,000 employees and allowed eligible staff to liquidate up to 5 percent of their vested stock options.
At the time, chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy had told employees that the company would consider another liquidity window this year if it achieved key business milestones, Moneycontrol had reported.
Flipkart has periodically offered liquidity to employees through ESOP buybacks over the years. Its biggest such programme came in 2023, when the Walmart-owned e-commerce company announced a $700 million ESOP payout linked to the separation of PhonePe. The payout benefited around 19,000 current and former employees and remains one of the largest employee wealth creation events in India's startup ecosystem.
The latest buyback also comes amid a broader shift in how mature startups are approaching employee liquidity.
According to data from equity management platform Qapita, startup ESOP liquidity programmes totalled $423 million across 27 programmes in FY26, up 70 percent from $248 million across 31 programmes in the previous financial year, with larger payouts from a smaller pool of late-stage companies driving overall employee wealth creation.
Industry executives say startups are increasingly providing liquidity through structured buybacks, secondary share sales and pre-IPO liquidity windows, allowing employees to monetise a portion of their holdings even as listing timelines remain uncertain. Rather than relying on one-off payouts, many late-stage startups are institutionalising periodic liquidity events as a tool for employee retention and wealth creation.
The latest programme also comes after Flipkart put its IPO plans on hold. Moneycontrol had reported in May that the Walmart-owned e-commerce company had deferred its public listing to prioritise profitability, with parent Walmart focusing on achieving EBITDA breakeven before reviving IPO plans.
The delay has made periodic ESOP liquidity programmes an important avenue for rewarding employees and allowing them to monetise a portion of their stock options while the company remains privately held.