Paytm owner Vijay Shekhar contributes Rs 500 to armed forces; gets trolled on social media
The Paytm founder was questioned, as his company is valued at $7 billion
Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Saturday was trolled on social media for sharing a screenshot of his contribution to the Indian Armed forces on occasion of the Armed Forces Week.
Sharma’s contribution, which was shared on his Twitter profile, showed a contribution of Rs 501.
Naturally, people on social media questioned the genuineness of Sharma’s contribution, given that Paytm is a billion dollar company today, with some even asking why he had even shared that he had made a contribution.
It’s interesting to note that in the past year, thanks mainly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and focus on a cashless economy, Paytm has thrived.
In March this year, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Capital sold part of the stake it holds in Paytm to Alibaba Group, one of the investors in Paytm, for Rs 275 crore. According to media reports, the deal values Paytm at $4.8 billion, next only to Flipkart. Later in May, the sale of Paytm's shares to Japan's SoftBank valued the company, in which Sharma owns 18%, at $7 billion. According to a Forbes report, Sharma is valued at $ 1.47 billion, which is why people have raised questions of his contribution to the armed forces.
This year the Army is celebrating this entire week as Armed Forces Week. The Defence Ministry has launched a campaign to spread awareness about the valour of armed forces. The objective is to encourage citizens to make financial contributions to the families of war heroes and promote welfare activities. While there will be a big push on social media, events in schools and colleges are also planned starting December 1 and ending on December 7, which also happens to be Armed Forces Flag Day. A sticker of the armed forces flag will be distributed at various public places including educational institutes.