Spice Mobility Limited (SML), after the merger of its holding company, Spice Televentures Private Limited (STPL), will transfer 47 million shares held by the latter to two independent non-promoter trusts.

Of this, 12 million shares have been transferred to the employee benefit trust, to be used for rewarding employees of Spice Mobility, its subsidiaries and associate companies. Spice Mobility says the move will drive employee motivation and productivity. The shares, currently valued at around Rs 1.25 billion, will be sold by the Trust over three to four years in a phased manner (one-third shares to be sold in 2011) and the gains derived will be distributed to the top 300 employees, to start with.

The trustees have formulated a plan to reward band-1 employees this year, to be extended to others based on specific criteria, including the period of service, seniority of the employees etc.