At 27, Vijay Shekhar Sharma had not tasted success much with earning just a modest salary of Rs 10,000 a month. And this made him ineligible bachelor.
Success stories are often made of impossible dreams coming possible. We see the face of success but hardly know what goes behind the making of the successful man or how interesting or challenging his journey has been to reach that spot.
The story of the 43-year-old Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, born to a school teacher father and a homemaker mother is no different. Hailing from a small town of the largest state of Uttar Pradesh, Vijay Shekhar Sharma has gone through all that any regular middle-class youth faces in this country. But what makes him stand out from the crowd is that he carved out a niche for himself which most of us can only dream about.
From earning just Rs 10,000 a month to becoming the new billionaire, his journey has been impeccable. At the age of 27, Vijay Shekhar Sharma had not tasted success much with earning just a modest salary of Rs 10,000 a month. And this was not good enough to make him an eligible bachelor.
In his own words, he describes his journey saying, "In 2004-05, my father asked me to shut my company and take up a job even if it was for Rs 30,000." On a lighter note, Vijay Shekhar Sharma tells Reuters, "Families of prospective brides would never call us back after finding out that I earn around 10,000 rupees a month. I had become an ineligible bachelor for my family."
Only last week Vijay Shekhar Sharma led Paytm's USD 2.5 billion initial public offering (IPO). And what's more, American business magnate Warren Buffet-owned investment powerhouse invested in Paytm IPO shares and made a profit of USD 16 million on its sale of 1.4 million shares.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma first tasted success in 2010 when he founded the digital payments firm Paytm. At the time, the trained engineer sold mobile content via a small company. Paytm began as a mobile recharge company and grew quickly after Uber listed it as a quick payment option in India.
Paytm got the real boost in 2016 after the government brought demonetisation that led to a ban on high-value currency notes and digital payments were encouraged. By 2017, Vijay Shekhar Sharma had become India's youngest billionaire. At present Forbes puts Sharma's net worth at USD 2.4 billion.
The simple boy from Aligarh who still loves to have tea from the roadside cart and goes out for morning walks to buy milk and bread says jokingly, "For a long time my parents had no idea what their son was doing. Once my mother read about my net worth in a Hindi newspaper and asked me, 'Vijay do you really have the kind of money they say you have'?"
(With Reuters Inputs)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}