The shares were issued at an average price of $82.5 per share, the market price as on May 15 this year. The parent company will pay for the appreciation in value between the grant price and the value on the date the rights is exercised.

The programme will have a five-year vesting period from May 15, 1998, to May 14, 2003, within which employees are at liberty to exercise the appreciation rights. Employees can exercise their rights any time between after five to 10 years from the grant date, viz. from May 15, 2003 until May 14, 2008.

The options become increasingly valuable if the market price exceeds the original offer price. However, the employees do not gain in case of a depreciation in the stock value.

The ultimate value ofthe options for employees will depend on the future performance of the stock, and each employee's decision as to when the option should be exercised.

Titled "Future Shares", the programme is applicable to all full time employees of The Procter & Gamble Company, USA, and its subsidiaries worldwide. This is a one time option grant at this time.

In India, every employee is a part of the employee group incentive programme and is entitled to the cash equivalent of two shares of The Procter & Gamble Company, USA.

A company press release said this is in keeping with P&G's long-standing commitment to employee ownership of the company. "Today, the company stands poised on huge new opportunities and challenges that will require even greater efforts from employees. It is expected that as the business succeeds the employees will also economically benefit," the company said.

Ownership of the P&G stock by its employees can be dated to the founding of profit sharing by William Cooper Procter in 1887. At present, 25per cent of the shares of Procter & Gamble Company, USA, are owned by its employees. Of the $80 billion in the value of P&G stock over the past 10 years, $20 billion has gone to P&G employees, current and retired.

Procter & Gamble India CEO Helmut Meixner said, "Through `Future Shares', employees will have the opportunity to share in the financial health and growth of our company which they help create through their continued efforts."

A number of other Fortune 500 companies have similar programmes in place, including Pepsico, DuPont, Merck, Delta, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan, GTE, NCR, AT&T, Whirlpool, Sara Lee and Intel.