Making ESOPs Legible in India
Kashish Sharma, CEO of EquityList on building Carta of India
This is a product education problem before it is a compensation problem. In India, many employees still anchor on cash because ESOPs are hard to price in their heads, hard to compare across offers, and wrapped in legal and tax steps that even founders often handle through outside lawyers or finance teams. That is why EquityList is building simple offer portals, grant templates, and simulations that turn an abstract percentage into a visible payout range and workflow.
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The core friction is not just employee skepticism. It starts upstream with founders and recruiters. Many startups still manage cap tables in Excel, delay formal board approved ESOP schemes, and rely on verbal or email promises, which makes stock feel less real than salary from day one.
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In the US, equity software evolved into compensation benchmarking and liquidity because the market first solved basic understanding and record keeping. Carta built equity education programs and total rewards tools for this reason. EquityList is solving the earlier stage problem in India, making grants legible and executable at all.
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Liquidity is what makes equity believable. India has started to produce that proof through ESOP buybacks, with startup employees realizing over $196M in 2022 and more than INR 1,450 Cr in 2024. But tax at exercise and sale still adds complexity, so employees need software that explains not only upside, but also timing, price, and tax consequences.
The next step is turning ESOPs from a vague retention perk into a standard part of every offer. As more Indian startups run buybacks and more employees see real cash outcomes, the winning platforms will be the ones that connect grant issuance, education, compliance, and eventual liquidity in one system.