The Indian startup scene has seen several incredible stories. The expansion of numerous global corporations has increased its worth and value as an environment in which everyone has the opportunity to shine and succeed. With the new age approaching, it’s time to take a look at one of the most successful entrepreneurs, Vijay Shekhar Sharma. If you live in India or have followed the Indian startup industry, you may have heard of Paytm. It was one of the original e-wallets and is still regarded as a representation of the Indian startup ecosystem in the e-wallet circuit.
The net worth of Vijay Shekhar Sharma is said to be around $1.2 billion, thus making him a billionaire. At that time, Sharma was a young boy of 27 living in Aligarh, earning around Rs 10,000 every month. Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s journey from a small town of Aligarh to the leadership of one of the largest fintech companies that provide digital payments and wallet-based payments methods is as rare, fascinating, and encouraging.
Childhood Days of Vijay Shekar
A comparison is drawn between Vijay’s story and that of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. They were from small villages, both equally crazy and determined, yet managed to disarrange an entire system. Vijay in real life remains very quiet and down-to-earth. He speaks from the heart. He is beloved in the Indian startup space since he represents resiliency in entrepreneurship.
Vijay is quite renowned and famous for his rock concerts and music and has passionate discussions. Also, he is a happy CEO who often inspires Paytm employees and other audiences alike with his uplifting talks.
Vijay’s life tales give the impression that he actually understands the nature of what it entails to be successful in today’s fast-moving and demanding entrepreneur. He has known the bad days where everything he put in was without the assurance of good returns. Yet, because he respects where he came from and the shortcomings, Vijay can very much make one laugh.
By virtue of the foregoing traits, Vijay ranks as one of the most beloved CEOs in the country today. One must bear in mind that Vijay’s self-deprecating humor goes hand in hand with tirelessly forcing motivation down people’s throats.
Vijay Sharma was the third child of Asha Sharma, a homemaker, and Sulom Prakash, a schoolteacher. He bore witness to the challenging life of the economically disadvantaged sections of the country. When Vijay was twelve, his colleagues did not have money to buy slippers; hence they would wear chappals to school. So confounding was life to him that he wrote a poem inspired by it.
Vijay was from a tiny town of Aligarh, and he was posted there. Vijay was 27 years old and was getting approximately Rs 10,000 a month and was rated as an unreachable bachelor. Vijay always wanted to be in the limelight, even when the circumstances led him down.
Sharma could speak English with less proficiency because he was never formally taught the language. But rather than shy away, he used rock music to learn English.
Yet, from the early days of his schooling, he kept developing an interest in literature-Hindi literature to be precise. He wrote a lot of poems, some of which were published. Quite recently, on August 6, 2022, the CEO of Paytm posted on Twitter a poem he had written in 1991. The “Vishwas Karo Karm Mein” poetry is very inspiring to the extent that even some netizens resonate with it.
There’re just about two engineering students from that particular community Vijay belonged to. Vijay chose to undertake his engineering education from the eminent Delhi Institute of Technology. He used to mention how having studied in a Hindi-medium school had many hardships.
Founding of Paytm
Since its founding in August 2010, Paytm has maintained a good reputation as a business and is one of the largest digital payment platforms that both customers and merchants rely on. Additionally, on November 8, 2021, one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) in Indian history began. However, the company has had some difficult share price declines since the listing of Paytm shares. The share prices fell to an all-time low of Rs 1,283 per share, a record low of around 37%. However, as of November 23, 2021, the company’s shares have finally experienced a 9% price increase.
Since the start of 2022, Paytm has been the subject of numerous scandals. Reports of Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of Paytm, being arrested also went viral during the fintech company’s share price plummet. On February 22, 2022, Vijay Sharma was allegedly detained and released on bail for striking DCP (South Delhi) Benita Mary Jaiker’s car. Despite the fact that the financial company and its creator are currently facing numerous obstacles, this will also pass.
Turning point in Vijay Shekhar’s life
Vijay’s life took a drastic change one Sunday when he picked up a Forbes magazine at the market. He learned about the rise to prominence in the startup circuit and the success tales of mega-brands like Apple, Intel, and HP. One thing connected all of the businesses: they were all constructed out of basement garages! Vijay then expressed a desire to visit Silicon Valley. However, that was never feasible because of a lack of funds and resources. Consequently, he told me that even though Vijay was unable to travel to Silicon Valley, he was still able to establish one in India!
Thus, in 1997, while still in college, he and his friend Hari founded an internet business. In 1997, while in their second year of college, Vijay founded a business named XS Corps. Given that the internet was making enormous technological advancements at the time, they both desired to create search engines and were aware that they would become the main draw. After giving this some thought, Harinder Takhar and Vijay Shekhar Sharma were able to create indiasite.net, a search engine designed for a company. They were able to sell the website to US Lotus Interworks for a million dollars after working on it diligently for two years on it.
Early in his career, Vijay Shekhar Sharma created electronic itineraries for Jet Airways the same year. Additionally, he created a new website for the Indian Tourism Department. Sharma was extremely impatient when it came to his academics, in contrast to the other endeavors in his professional career, where he was completely serious, passionate, and dedicated. He would frequently leave the examination room. “I wanted to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time,” Sharma remarked.
In India, Sharma’s business, XS Corps, was trying to develop a search engine. Although funding was limited at the time, the business was able to develop a content management solution that enabled a number of media agencies, including Living Media and Express Group, to host their content. Since River Run Software provided the highest-paying position on campus, Sharma planned to apply there in his senior year of college. Sharma’s recollections of the day of the interview are still vivid. He was under a lot of pressure on this particular occasion, which was comparable to a few others.
Wrap-up
The emergence of e-wallets in the nation has been closely linked to the platform. The first platform to provide a zero-balance account option is the Paytm Payments Bank. Additionally, this portal provides shopping and UPI payment options. The Paytm brand is still growing in the current e-commerce era.
Also check:- The inspiring journey of Sanjeev Bikhchandani
