Here's The Story About Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma & How He Got So Successful

Paytm¡¯s Rs 18,300-crore IPO opened for subscription on Monday at a price band of Rs 2,080-2,150 per share. In the primary market, Paytm shares were seen trading at a premium of Rs 60 per share over the IPO price.

Paytm shares were ruling at Rs 2,210 per share, nearly 3 per cent premium, in the grey market, according to the people who deal in unlisted shares of the companies.

Six IPOs in next one week!! #Markets #StocksToWatch #IPO #NykaaIPO #PayTmIPO #Investment #stockmarkets #fintech@businessline pic.twitter.com/4Kx4YYOWf9

¡ª Bavadharini.KS (@BavadhariniKs) October 28, 2021

This is India¡¯s largest public issue to date. But how did PayTm reach such heights? There is no doubt that the company's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has everything to do with it.

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But the road to success for this humble man wasn't easy. He had to go through a lot of hardships as he wasn't born with a golden spoon.

Early Life

Though he passed his higher secondary when he was just 14 years old, a child prodigy of sorts, making it through college was the first tough challenge he faced when he left the cosy comfort of his small hometown outside Aligarh and ventured into the real world. After joining Delhi College Of Engineering, he realized that he needs to learn English to get a grasp of everything since he had completed his studies in a Hindi-medium school.

With the help of books, second-hand magazines and his friends, he mastered the language in a way that few can. However, it didn't work very well leading him to stop attending college.

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Following His Passion

Leaving college didn't dishearten him. Vijay along with his friends created a CMS (content management company) and they named it XS Communications. Their CMS was used by many major publications like The Indian Express. While trying to get funds for his company he borrowed Rs. 8 lakhs from the bank with an interest of 24 per cent. Due to this, he was trapped in the vicious circle of unplayable debt. This forced him to take odd jobs to pay off his debts.

The Rise Of Paytm

Vijay Shekhar observed the growing phenomenal use of smartphones. He wanted to contribute to society so that people could use smartphones to do transactions online. On 8th July 2010, an online website was launched called Paytm.com under its parent company One97 Communications.

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Within a couple of days, it popularized among people due to its paying facility of electricity bill, water bill, and gas bill facility. Paytm made people¡¯s life easy. Within 2 years, its users increased to two lakh fifty thousand. By 2017, Paytm became India¡¯s first payment app with 100 million downloads of the application.

He even quotes Jim Morrison in his interviews adding how much he's inspired by the musician.

:-))
This one ends on Jim Morrison. https://t.co/qxS3DzZxGS via @business

¡ª Vijay Shekhar Sharma (@vijayshekhar) July 13, 2017

After demonetization took place in 2016, PayTm usage and demand sky-rocketed. During demonetization, Paytm worked and completed 600 days¡¯ work in only 60 days. Its users increased to 200 million by November 2017. Paytm is one of the most valuable startups in India having a valuation of $16 billion (as of 2020).

Today, Vijay Shekhar Sharma's net worth is around $2.3 billion. He was the youngest billionaire back in 2018. If this isn't a success story worth following, we don't know what is.