Zomato CEO to create $90 m welfare fund

New Delhi: Online food delivery platform Zomato’s Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal will be donating around $ 90 million (nearly Rs 700 crore) from vested ESOPs to Zomato Future Foundation to help fund the education of children of its delivery partners.

In an internal memo shared with the employees of the company, Goyal said before Zomato went public, he was granted some ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) by the investors and board on the basis of his past performance and some of the ESOPs vested last month because there is a minimum one year vesting required as per law.

“At the average share price over the last month, these ESOPs are worth (around) USD 90 million (around Rs 700 crore),” he wrote.

Sharing how he planned to utilise the ESOPs, Goyal said, “I am donating all the proceeds from these ESOPs (net of taxes) towards the Zomato Future Foundation (ZFF).

The ZFF will cover education of up to two children of all Zomato delivery partners, up to Rs 50,000 per child per annum on actuals (above a certain service quality benchmark) who have been on our fleet for more than five years.

”He further said the amount will go up to Rs 1 lakh per child per annum if the delivery partner completes 10 years with the company. However, “ Service thresholds of 5/10 years will be lower for women delivery partners. We will also have special programmes for girl children and introduce ‘prize money’ if a girl completes 12th grade, as well as her graduation,” he added.