During her employment with the ICICI Group, Buch received compensation in the form of salary, retiral benefits, bonuses, and ESOPs, in line with applicable policies, it added.”Under the bank’s ESOP rules, the ESOPs vest over the next few years from the date of allotment. The rules in place at the time of her ESOP grant allowed employees, including retired employees, to exercise their ESOPs anytime within 10 years from the date of vesting,” it added.Congress has alleged that the SEBI chairperson received Rs 16.8 crore from the ICICI Group since 2017, which is 5.09 times her income from SEBI, raising serious questions of conflict of interest.All payments made to Buch after her retirement accrued during her employment with the ICICI Group. These payments included ESOPs and retiral benefits, the bank said.Citing applicable income tax rules, the statement noted that the difference between the price of the stock on the day of exercise and the allotment price is treated as perquisite income and is reflected in Part B of Form 16 for employees, including retired employees. The bank is required to deduct perquisite tax on this income. Additionally, Form 16 covers payments made towards retiral benefits for former employees, it noted.The Congress’ fresh allegations come days after Hindenburg Research launched a fresh broadside against market regulator Sebi chairperson Buch, alleging that she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.Buch had denied the allegations levelled against them as baseless and asserted that their finances are an open book.Adani Group had also termed Hindenburg allegations, as malicious and manipulative of select public information, saying it has no commercial relationship with the Sebi chairperson or her husband.
Source link
