Ex-Maoists get capitalist hug with Lloyd Metals Esop issue

Recently, Lloyd looked to share ownership with its blue-collar workforce via stock options

- Nehal Chaliawala

Maoist-troubled Gadchiroli in Maharashtra is not the easiest of places to do business. Chandrapur-headquartered Lloyd Metals and Energy, one of the few companies to venture into the region with an iron ore mine in 2021, has done so with a great degree of success.

Recently, Lloyd looked to share ownership of the company (where the mine accounts for most of the value) with its blue-collar workforce using stock options. Some of these workers are former Maoists who have laid down arms and are looking for steady income.

To be sure, the company has faced its fair share of resistance since starting operations, including kidnapping of executives and arson by Maoists. However, it has stayed the course, growing its revenues 24 times between FY21 and FY24 to ₹16,575 crore after it started mining the red dust in the region that eventually becomes steel.

Now, in a move unheard of in the metals and mining industry, Lloyd Metals and Energy made news on Thursday after it granted stock options to its 6,000-strong workforce, a bulk of whom are making modest wages doing manual work in its mines or on its factory floors. The story was first reported by The Times of India.