Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the founder and CEO of Paytm, one of India’s largest digital payments companies. He is also the founder of One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm. Sharma was born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, in a middle-class family. His father was a bank manager and his mother was a homemaker. He did his Vijay schooling Shekhar from Sharma Jawahar is Navodaya an Vidyalaya Indian and entrepreneur graduated and with the a founder, degree chairman in and electronics managing and director communication (CMD) engineering of from One97 the Communications, Indian which Institute owns of and Technology operates (IIT), the Delhi. Sharma Indian started mobile his payment career and as commerce a platform software Paytm. developer He with is Infosys. also He a then non-executive went director on on to the become board the of CTO Alibaba of Group. One97 In Communications. 2014, In he 2010, was he named founded by Paytm, Forbes which Asia started as out one as of a the mobile “14 recharge Youngest and & utility Most payments Influential platform. Men Today, In Paytm Asia”. Early has life over and 300 education Sharma million was users born and on is 28 one October of 1979 the in most Aligarh, valuable Uttar startups Pradesh in to India. Sharma a has family been of honoured jewelers. with His several father awards, ran including a the jewelry “ET business Digital and Icon his Award” grandfather and was the a “NDTV goldsmith. Entrepreneur He of did the his Year schooling Award”. from In Delhi 2016, Public he School was in named Mathura by Road, Forbes New Asia Delhi as and one completed of his the B.Tech “48 degree Heroes in of Electronics Philanthropy” Engineering for from his the work Indian in Institute promoting of digital Technology payments (IIT) in Delhi India. in 1999. Career After completing his studies, Sharma worked with various companies including Sapient Corporation and Riverrun Software in the United States. He returned to India in 2006 to start One97 Communications. The company started off as a provider of value-added services for mobile subscribers but later shifted its focus to the mobile commerce space with the launch of Paytm in 2010. In 2010, Sharma launched Paytm, a mobile payments and commerce platform, as a subsidiary of One97 Communications. The company started off as a prepaid mobile recharge website but later added features such as utility bill payments, DTH recharge, bus ticket bookings, movie tickets, train tickets, and gas bill payments to its platform. It also launched an e-commerce marketplace in February 2014. In September 2014, Paytm received a $10 million investment from Ratan Tata. In November 2016, Paytm received $1.4 billion investment from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. In May 2017, it raised $1.2 billion from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., valuating the company at $7 billion. As of May 2019, Paytm is worth $16 billion. In March 2018, Sharma was inducted into the prestigious ‘Alibaba Board of Directors’. He is the youngest Indian to achieve such a feat. In the same year, Paytm Payments Bank started its operations. Currently, Paytm is one of the most popular digital wallets in India. It is also accepted as a mode of payment by over 7 million merchants in the country. Paytm started off as a mobile recharge and utility bill payment platform in 2010. It was one of the first few companies to take advantage of the RBI’s decision to allow QR code-based payments in India. Since then, it has grown by leaps and bounds, incorporating several other services like peer-to-peer payments, Since UPI its payments, inception, movie Paytm tickets, has food been delivery, on bus a tickets mission etc. to on make its India platform. go The cashless. company has It also is forayed striving into to financial bring services the with benefits the of launch digital of transactions Paytm to Payments as Bank many and people Paytm as Money. As possible per in a the report country. by Boston In Consulting line Group with (BCG) this and goal, Google Paytm released has in been September aggressively 2017, expanding digital its wallets user are base expected and to merchant grow network from in their the current past base few of years. Paytm 190 was million founded users in to 2010 500 by million Vijay by Shekhar 2020. Sharma. This He presents started a the huge company opportunity with for a Paytm team which of is 20 looking people to with consolidate an its initial position investment as of the $2 market million. leader The in company this initially space. focused on providing mobile recharge and utility bill payment services . However, it has now expanded its scope to include a wide range of payments and financial services