From doing odd jobs to a net worth of Rs 17000 crore: Read Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma's story

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is today a billionaire. He is the founder of Paytm, a legend of the start-up ecosystem which is now set to break the record for the biggest IPO in India’s history. However, success did not come of a platter for Sharma.

If successful, Paytm’s 18,300-crore offer will be the biggest since Coal India's Rs 15,200 crore IPO in 2010. But things started small for Sharma, who today himself is worth over Rs 17,000 crore.

He had the brains to make it big but not the resources. Sharma was a bright student who finished his school education at just 14. Hailing from the small town of Aligarh, he became only the second student from his school to pursue engineering and joined the prestigious Delhi College of Engineering (DCE). However, reality struck soon when he found himself alienated from education because he grew up as a Hindi-medium student.

Sharma tried to learn English but the language barrier ensured that his academic life was a struggle. He even considered leaving college at one stage.

Nonetheless, he continued ahead and his desire to innovate came to the fore when he created a content management company (CMS) along with some friends. Named XS Communications, Sharma took a bank loan of Rs 8 lakh to build a business around the product. But a high interest rate of 24% meant that the young entrepreneur was caught in a vicious debt cycle. Sharma, a billionaire today, had to reportedly resort to odd jobs to pay off his dues in those struggling days.

But then came the breakthrough when Sharma launched Paytm.com as an online transaction platform in 2010. The product soon grew in popularity and prominence and was soon boasting a customer base of 2.5 lakh users. In 7 years of operation, Sharma’s Paytm app became the first mobile app for online payments in India to reach 100 million downloads. However, it doubled the number reaching 200 million downloads within the year.

Paytm’s demand and position in the finance industry grew from strength to strength as India ventured towards a cashless economy post the demonetisation event in 2016.

The young boy who struggled in a metropolitan and had to take up odd jobs to pay off his debts became youngest billionaire in 2018. Vijay Shekhar Sharma is now worth over Rs 17,000 crore ($2.3 billion).

Source : DNA India