Swiggy Expands ESOPs Pool with 1.28 Cr Shares in Fresh Round

Food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy has approved the allotment of 1.28 crore (1,28,96,462) equity shares under its Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) 2024, the company announced in its exchange filing on April 22. These shares are being allotted to eligible employees at a face value of Rs 1 apiece.

The exercise price for the allotted shares also stood at Rs 1 per share. Based on the stock’s closing price of Rs 343.75 per share on Monday, the newly allotted equity shares are valued at approximately Rs 443.31 (around $52 million). Swiggy’s share price has been volatile today as it went slightly up to Rs 345.15 apiece on the BSE, but later, it went down about 1% at Rs 341.20 per share.

Notably, this is not the first time Swiggy has allotted ESOPs this year. In January 2025, the foodtech major allotted 2.61 crore equity shares and then 8.64 lakh shares in February under multiple ESOP schemes. Even in November 2024, the company unlocked ESOPs worth Rs 9,000 crore. This move made 500 staffers ‘crorepatis’ who earned at least Rs 1 crore each. Of these, 70 employees made more than Rs 8.5 crore each.

Swiggy's Financials

In its third quarter, Swiggy reported a 39% increase in its net loss to Rs 799 crore. In comparison, the company had reported a net loss of Rs 574 crore during the same period last year (October–December). It also recorded a 31% increase in operating revenue for the fiscal third quarter, reporting Rs 3,993 crore in revenue for the October–December quarter.

Investments in Swiggy's quick commerce unit, Instamart, which faces intense competition from rivals Blinkit and Zepto, have negatively impacted the company's margin. The contribution margin for the quick commerce division dropped to -4.6% in the most recent quarter, down from -1.9% three months earlier.

Swiggy's Gross Order Value (GOV) rose by 38% year-on-year to Rs 12,165 crore. Meanwhile, the consolidated adjusted EBITDA loss decreased by nearly 2% year-on-year to Rs 490 crore, but increased by Rs 149 crore quarter-on-quarter. The platform's average Monthly Transacting Users (MTU) grew by 25.3% year-on-year to 17.8 million, with approximately one-third of all users engaging with more than one service on the platform.

The company's core food delivery business, which reported a topline of Rs 1,636 crore, saw a modest quarter-on-quarter growth of 3.7%, while recording a year-on-year increase of over 23%.