Insights
Private Markets Intelligence
Guides on ESOP taxation, cap tables, secondary transactions, and India's private market ecosystem.
SEBI Demat Compliance for AIFs: What the Regulations Actually Require
SEBI’s current AIF circular sets a 1 July 2025 boundary and two exceptions for certain earlier investments.
How ESOP Buybacks Work: Liquidity for Employees Before an Exit
A company buyback purchases issued ESOP shares under section 68. Check lawful funding, the actual offer, acceptance and current tax before counting liquidity.
ESOP Vesting Schedule Explained: 4-Year Vesting and 1-Year Cliff for Indian Startups
A worked four-year ESOP schedule, the one-year cliff, and the Rule 12 disclosures an unlisted company should understand.
What is an ESOP Scheme Document and Why Every Indian Startup Needs One
A plain-language explanation of an Indian ESOP scheme document, Rule 12 approval disclosures and the plan terms companies decide for themselves.
How to Convert Physical Share Certificates to Demat: A Step-by-Step Guide for Indian Startups
See how an Indian private company prepares for dematerialisation and how each certificate holder submits a request through a Depository Participant.
How Long Is a Startup Valuation Report Valid in India?
The usable date depends on the transaction. Check the report's purpose, valuation date and applicable rule before reusing it.
The Hidden Cost of Delaying Demat: What Founders Only Discover at the Worst Possible Moment
The cost of delayed demat depends on the transaction and the work left open. Check the rule, deal papers and records before setting a close date.
Startup Valuation During Fundraising: How Founders Should Approach It
Valuation is the number every founder thinks about most and understands least going into their first institutional fundraise. It is simultaneously the most important number in the term sheet and one of the most misunderstood. Founders who approach valuation as a fixed target 'I want to raise at Rs 40 crore pre-money' often negotiate poorly, concede unnecessarily, or anchor to a number that has no basis investors will accept. Founders who understand how valuation is actually determined by investo
When Does a Startup Need a Formal Valuation Report in India?
Most Indian startup founders know, vaguely, that a valuation report is required 'at some point' possibly for ESOP, possibly for investors, possibly for income tax. What they rarely have is a clear, specific list of the exact situations that legally or commercially require a formal valuation, who the report must be prepared by, and what happens if the situation arises without one in place. This guide answers that question precisely. It maps every situation in which an Indian startup requires or
Do ESOP Shares Need to Be Dematerialised in India? The Complete Answer for Startups
This question comes up at the intersection of two compliance requirements that most founders manage separately: the ESOP scheme and the demat mandate. Founders who have set up an ESOP programme are familiar with grant letters, vesting schedules, and exercise windows. Founders who are working through the demat process are familiar with ISINs, DPs, and DRFs. What is less clear to most is exactly how these two systems interact specifically, what happens to shares at the point of ESOP exercise, and
How AIFs Can Standardise Demat Compliance Across Their Portfolio
Most AIF fund managers in India are dealing with the same demat compliance problem at scale: a portfolio of fifteen to forty companies at various stages of dematerialisation readiness, a SEBI audit cycle that requires all holdings to be in electronic form, and no standardised process for getting portfolio companies from physical to demat without consuming disproportionate relationship capital and operations bandwidth. The company-by-company approach chasing each portfolio company individually,
From ROC records to ISIN: the demat process for Indian startups
A sourced company-side sequence from share records and issuer admission to ISIN, holder requests and reconciliation, with timing limits clearly marked.