Saluja is the executive chairperson of Religare Enterprises (REL), which owns Care Health.
IRDAI revealed that a probe into stock option allotment to Saluja is on in response to a query raised by Rahul Kanoj under the Right to Information Act (RTI) to the insurance regulator. The regulator said in its response, “The information sought is not furnished as the same would impede the process of investigation or apprehension.” ET has seen IRDAI’s response to the RTI query.
Care Health had allotted stock options worth ₹250 crore to Saluja, representing approximately 2.5% of the unlisted insurer’s shareholding. Proxy advisory firm InGovern said stock options were issued with an exercise price of ₹45.32 per share in January 2022, while in the same year, a rights issue of CARE shares was priced at ₹110 per share.
Kanoj had filed an RTI query dated April 9, 2024, with IRDAI. In its response, the regulator said Care had sought its approval to grant ESOPs to Saluja on December 31, 2021. IRDAI said it had rejected this request from Care. Yet, the health insurance company allotted the stock options to Saluja.Email queries to IRDAI and Religare Group spokesperson went unanswered till Wednesday press time.InGovern said Religare did not seek shareholder approval for the allotment of Care shares to Saluja, and there was no disclosure of this matter.Earlier, the Burman family, which is the largest shareholder of Religare Enterprises, alleged that 22.7 million options in Care have been illegally issued to Saluja.
Burmans, promoters of Dabur, and Religare’s board led by Saluja are locked in a dispute with both sides accusing each other of violating rules on corporate governance and insider trading.
On October 18, independent directors of Religare wrote a letter to regulators, including the Reserve Bank of India, Sebi, and the insurance watchdog, levelling allegations of fraud and other breaches against the Burmans.