A day after ICICI bank exposed Congress’ half-baked lies against SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch, the party has refused to admit to its mistakes as it digs its heels on an issue that only exposes its poor understanding of finances and retirement instruments companies offer to woo their employees.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Tuesday questioned how could retirement benefits exceed the salary Ms Buch drew during her employment at ICICI. “How can the retirement benefits be more than the salary she drew in ICICI? We now want to demand that SEBI should come out clean, give clarification and respond to our charges,” Khera said.
#WATCH | Delhi | On allegations against SEBI Chairman, Congress leader Pawan Khera says, How can the retirement benefits be more than the salary she drew when she was in ICICI? We now want to demand that SEBI should come out clean, give a clarification and respond to our… pic.twitter.com/m4p5Evj1yu
— ANI (@ANI) September 3, 2024
A cursory glance at the response to the above tweet gives a glimpse into the buffoonery of the Congress spokesperson. But when you have Rahul Gandhi as your party leader, the followers are only going to be folks like Pawan Khera, Supriya Shrinate etc.
Anyway, Khera raised a question, pointing out that Buch’s average salary from 2007 to 2013-14, just before she retired from ICICI, was Rs 1.3 crore. However, the retirement benefit ICICI provided to Buch from 2016-17 to 2020-21 averaged Rs 2.77 crore per year. Khera questioned how a person’s ‘retirement benefit’ could exceed their salary as an employee.
Earlier, ICICI Bank rubbished Congress’ claims that Madhabi Puri Buch, the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), received salaries and ESOPs from the bank.
The Congress party had claimed a potential conflict of interest involving Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). On Monday, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that Buch continued to receive a salary from ICICI Bank while serving as a SEBI member, which he claims represents a serious breach of ethics and accountability in public service.
Khera questioned SEBI’s integrity, arguing that the market regulator should uphold impartiality and independence. “How can fair regulation be ensured when SEBI’s head has been receiving a salary from a private entity like ICICI Bank?” he asked, stressing the importance of transparency within the regulatory body.
During the press briefing, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that Buch received Rs 16.8 crore from ICICI Bank in 2017 and 2024, even while serving as a whole-time member of SEBI and later as its chairperson.
Khera further alleged that several ICICI Bank investigations were ongoing while Buch was receiving income from the group. He cited unnamed reports suggesting that the SEBI chief may have relaxed norms for the bank.
In response, the bank stated, “ICICI Bank or its group companies have not paid any salary or granted any ESOPs to Madhabi Puri Buch after her retirement, except for her retiral benefits.”
The bank clarified that Buch had opted for superannuation effective October 31, 2013. During her time with ICICI Group, she received compensation through salary, retiral benefits, bonuses, and ESOPs, as per the applicable policies.
The bank also explained that retired employees can exercise ESOPs within 10 years, indicating that Buch may have utilised these benefits later.
The bank emphasised that all payments made to Buch after her retirement were accrued during her employment with ICICI Group and consisted of ESOPs and retiral benefits.
While ICICI Bank’s brief response was enough to puncture holes in Congress’ claims against Buch, it, nevertheless, demonstrates the party’s willingness to institutionalise McCarthyism to attack corporates, officials in high positions, and influential leaders to insinuate crony capitalism against their arch-rivals, the BJP.
The baseless allegations against Buch came just weeks after another such malicious attempt was made by American firm Hindenberg Research to defame the SEBI chief and accuse her of “delaying” investigations in the Adani Group for her alleged links with the business entity. The allegations, however, weren’t bought by stock market watchers and trade analysts, who remain bullish on the Adani Group stocks.
With the controversy falling into oblivion, the Congress party came up with a fresh set of allegations to target Ms Buch, and sow doubts in the minds of an average citizen who may not be aware in detail of concepts like retiral benefits, ESOPs, etc.
ICICI, in its response, said Ms Buch may have exercised ESOPs and other retiral benefits she had accrued during her employment with ICICI. Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are employee benefit plans that grant workers ownership interest in the company. Organisations often offer employees ESOPs to align the interests of employees with those of the shareholders to achieve greater productivity and desired results, and fulfilling their goals.
In an ESOP, a company grants employees stock ownership, usually without requiring them to pay upfront. The shares are distributed to employees based on factors like their salary and length of service. Ms Buch may have received her share of company stocks based on her salary and her years of employment with ICICI.
Usually, there is a vesting period during which employees need to remain with the company before they fully own the shares. This helps motivate employees to stay with the company for a longer time.
After vesting, employees have the opportunity to “exercise” their stock options, allowing them to purchase shares at a set price, which is often below the market value. So Ms Buch may have had the option of buying shares below the market value and either selling them immediately to book profits or holding on to them till she believed would get her the best yield.
If the company does well, the share value rises, enabling employees to earn a profit by selling their shares at a higher price. As the share price of a company rests on multiple factors, including its performance and financials, it is also a fact that share price can’t be reined and good-performing organisations can see significant stock price appreciation, yielding better returns to employees than their salaries.
However, for the Congress party, which is recently obsessed with caste rhetorics, these profound concepts of ESOPs and retiral benefits must be hard to grasp, as reflected in the party’s recent hit job against Ms Buch. Or maybe the party is deliberately peddling lies, relying on its propaganda arms to amplify its allegations enough to create doubts in the minds of an average Indian, who they think has a similar IQ to their supreme leader and would lap up their claims as gospels.
