SBI Funds Management made a strong market debut on Tuesday, listing at ₹610.15 on NSE with a 6.30% premium over the issue price of ₹574. The stock opened at ₹624.95 on the listing day, delivering substantial gains to investors. According to reports from CNBC TV18, the IPO was subscribed nearly 42 times during the July 14-16 bidding period, with qualified institutional buyers leading demand at 140 times subscription. The country's largest asset manager had raised nearly ₹2,663 crore from 129 marquee investors including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, along with a pre-IPO placement worth around ₹1,880 crore.
Devinder Pal Singh, Joint CEO, emerged as the biggest beneficiary with 21.14 lakh vested shares valued at approximately ₹128.9 crore (21,14,004 × ₹574) after the stock's post-listing performance. He also holds 5.19 lakh outstanding ESOPs worth around ₹31.65 crore if exercised at the IPO price. Srinivasan Rama Iyer, Chief Investment Officer (Equity), owns a stake valued at ₹111 crore and his outstanding ESOPs comprising 8.95 lakh shares are worth another ₹54.57 crore. Srinivas Jain, Chief of Strategy, Digital & Technology and Head of Investor Relations, holds shares valued at ₹62.14 crore and outstanding ESOPs worth ₹10.43 crore. As per The Economic Times, Singh is a mutual fund industry veteran with over 31 years of experience and has spent 25 years with SBI Mutual Fund.
The wealth creation stems from SBI Funds Management's employee stock ownership programme, first introduced in 2018 and later revised. According to reports from CNBC TV18, employees received stock options at exercise prices ranging from around ₹38.75 to ₹455 per share. With the IPO priced at ₹574, those who remained with the company through its growth phase have unlocked significant gains. According to the IPO prospectus, SBI had allotted 3.68 crore shares to 625 employees since launching its ESOP scheme in 2018. Several employees continue to hold unvested options that could further increase their wealth, with the programme providing substantial long-term value appreciation for employee stakeholders. The ESOP scheme has transformed 13 employees into crorepatis through the successful public offering.
Rajeev Radhakrishnan, Chief Investment Officer – Fixed Income, holds 6.26 lakh vested shares valued at around ₹35.94 crore and 12.20 lakh unvested ESOPs worth approximately ₹70.03 crore if exercised. Aparna Nirgude, Chief Risk Officer, owns 5.43 lakh vested shares giving her holdings a value of around ₹31.18 crore and 61,720 unvested ESOPs currently valued at about ₹3.54 crore. Vinaya Datar, Chief Compliance Officer, Company Secretary and Head of Legal, holds 3.59 lakh vested shares valued at approximately ₹20.63 crore and 2.12 lakh unvested ESOPs worth around ₹12.17 crore. Other notable holdings include Mohan Lal with 1.22 lakh vested shares worth ₹7.02 crore, Inderjeet Ghuliani with 53,600 vested shares valued at around ₹3.08 crore, and Mahesh Chhabria with 69,416 vested shares translating to a value of approximately ₹3.98 crore.
SBI Funds Management has demonstrated robust financial growth with operating revenue increasing steadily from ₹2,690.56 crore in FY24 to ₹3,597.76 crore in FY25 and further to ₹4,389.49 crore in FY26. Profit after tax showed even stronger growth, rising from ₹2,072.79 crore in FY24 to ₹3,067.38 crore in FY26. The company's operating margin improved consistently, rising from 0.21% in FY24 to 0.25% in FY25 and then to 0.27% in FY26, reflecting better operating efficiency. As India's largest asset manager, SBI Funds Management manages ₹1,250,998 crore in mutual fund assets and holds a 15.3% market share. The company serves 1.8 crore unique investors through 277 branches and 132,519 distributor partners, covering 98.19% of India's PIN codes, with its InvesTap app having 3.97 million registered users.
