Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Last updated

Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Vijay Shekhar Sharma (2019).jpg
Sharma in 2019
Born (1978-06-07) 7 June 1978 (age 46)
Alma mater Delhi College of Engineering (B.Tech)
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder & CEO of Paytm
Spouse
Mridula Parashar
(m. 2005)
Children1
Awards Yash Bharati

Vijay Shekhar Sharma (born 7 June 1978) is an Indian technology entrepreneur, multimillionaire and business magnate. He is the founder and chief executive officer of One97 Communications founded in 1997 and its consumer brand Paytm which he started in 2010. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

In January 2022, the ICANN-supported Universal Acceptance Steering Group appointed him as UA Ambassador in India. [5] As of September 2022, he had a net worth of US$1.1 billion according to Forbes . [6]

Early life and education

Vijay Shekhar Sharma was born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh on 7 June 1978, the third of the four children of Sulom Prakash Sharma, a school teacher, and Asha Sharma, a homemaker. [7] [8] He did his schooling from Harduaganj, a small town near Aligarh. [9] He enrolled in college at the age of 15 and graduated with a B.Tech degree from the Delhi College of Engineering (now Delhi Technological University) at 19 years old [10] [11] [12]

Career

In 1997, while in college, he started the website indiasite.net, and sold it two years later for US$1 million. [13] [14] Three years later, in 2000, he started One97 Communications [15] which offered mobile content including news, cricket scores, ringtones, jokes and exam results. [14] One97 Communications Limited is the parent company of Paytm, a digital payments and financial services company that was launched by Sharma in 2010. [16] In November 2021, Paytm went public raising $2.5 billion at a valuation of $19 billion, making it India's largest initial public offering at that time. [17]

Sharma is also an angel investor who has supported tech startups. [18] [19]

Sharma joined the board of management at Netaji Subhas University of Technology in Delhi for three years. [20]

In 2024, Sharma stepped down from his role as part-time non-executive chairman and board member of Paytm Payments Bank. This decision followed regulatory challenges encountered by the bank with the Reserve Bank of India. [21] [22]

Awards and recognition

Personal life

He is married to Mridula Parashar Sharma [37] and they have a child. [38] He cites Alibaba's founder Jack Ma and Masayoshi Son of Softbank, as his inspirations. [39] In February 2022, Sharma was arrested by Delhi police for hitting his car into the car of a police officer. He was later released on bail. [40]

Other work

Sharma has been named as the UN Environment's 'Patron for Clean Air', where he helps to drive environmental action and awareness and advocate for the goals of United Nations Environment's global Breathe Life campaign. [41] [42]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">N. R. Narayana Murthy</span> Indian businessman (born 1946)

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is one of the seven co-founders of Infosys, and has previously served as the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief mentor of the company before retiring and taking the title chairman emeritus. As of August 2024, his net worth was estimated to be $5.1 billion, making him the 606th richest person in the world according to Forbes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nandan Nilekani</span> Indian businessman

Nandan Mohanrao Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur. He co-founded Infosys and is the non-executive chairman of Infosys replacing R Seshasayee and Ravi Venkatesan, who were the co-chairs of the board, on 24 August 2017. After the exit of Vishal Sikka, Nilekani was appointed as non-executive chairman of the board effective 24 August 2017. He was the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). After a successful career at Infosys, he headed the Government of India's technology committee, TAGUP. He is a member of Indian National Congress but not active in politics as of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunil Mittal</span> Indian industrialist and philanthropist

Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, which has diversified interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, education, malls, hospitality, Agri and food besides other ventures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kumar Mangalam Birla</span> Indian industrialist and philanthropist (born 1967)

Kumar Mangalam Birla is an Indian billionaire industrialist, philanthropist, and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest conglomerates in India. He is the chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani and ex-chairman of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of US$23 billion, as of March 2024 making him the 6th richest person in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shiv Nadar</span> Indian billionaire businessman (born 1945)

Shiv Nadar is an Indian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He was the founder and chairman of HCL Technologies, and is chairman of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. Nadar founded HCL in the year 1976 and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT enterprise over the next three decades. In 2008, Nadar was awarded Padma Bhushan for his efforts in the IT industry. Nadar, nicknamed by friends as Magus, since the mid-1990s he has focused his efforts on developing the educational system of India through the Shiv Nadar Foundation. According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of US$40 billion as of August 2024 making him one of the richest people in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anand Mahindra</span> Indian businessman

Anand Gopal Mahindra is an Indian billionaire businessman, and the chairman of Mahindra Group, a Mumbai-based business conglomerate. The group operates in aerospace, agribusiness, aftermarket, automotive, components, construction equipment, defence, energy, farm equipment, finance and insurance, industrial equipment, information technology, leisure and hospitality, logistics, real estate and retail. Mahindra is the grandson of Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, co-founder of Mahindra & Mahindra.

The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence are the awards conferred by The Economic Times in the field of business, corporate and government policies, economies in India. It is an annual awards, conferred in various categories. Since 2017, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (Deloitte) has been the title sponsor of the awards. The 2018 leg of the awards will be held on 22 November in Mumbai.

Shikha Sharma is an Indian economist and banker. She was the managing director and CEO of Axis Bank from 2009 to 2018. She also worked for nearly thirty years at the ICICI Group, across its bank and insurance companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trishneet Arora</span> Indian entrepreneur

Trishneet Arora is the founder and chief executive officer of TAC Security, a cyber security company. He was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 2018 Asia list and Fortune India 40 Under 40 2019 List of India's Brightest Business Minds. Trishneet Arora listed among Top 10 youngest Indian billionaires in Hurun Rich List of India 2024, with $130 Million Net Worth

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flock (messaging service)</span>

Flock is a proprietary messaging and collaboration tool, founded by tech entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia in 2014. The app is available on Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS and Web.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piyush Tewari</span> Indian social entrepreneur

Piyush Tewari is an Indian social entrepreneur, focused on improving road safety, access to emergency medical care and urban governance across India. He is the Founder and CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation, and best known for his work to pass a Good Samaritan Law in India. In 2016, GQ Magazine named him as one of the most influential young Indians. In 2014, Tewari was featured as an expert on Satyamev Jayate, a popular TV show on social issues, hosted by actor Aamir Khan. The episode Tewari was featured in was focused on the epidemic of road accidents in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kunal Bahl</span> Indian Entrepreneur

Kunal Bahl is an Indian technology entrepreneur and investor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paytm</span> Indian financial technology company

Paytm is an Indian multinational financial technology company, that specializes in digital payments and financial services, based in Noida, India. Paytm was founded in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma under One97 Communications. The company offers mobile payment services to consumers and enables merchants to receive payments through QR code payment, Soundbox, Android-based-payment terminal, and online payment gateway. In partnership with financial institutions, Paytm also offers financial services such as microcredit and buy now, pay later to its consumers and merchants.

Keshav Bansal is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the director of Intex Technologies, an Indian consumer durables, which is India's second-largest selling mobile phone and IT accessories manufacturer company. He was the owner of the dissolved Rajkot-based team, Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League. He is also the youngest owner of an Indian Premier League Team. GQ India named him as #9 among the 50 Most Influential Young Indians for 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhavin Turakhia</span> Indian businessman

Bhavin Turakhia, is an entrepreneur, and the founder of Titan, Flock, Radix, CodeChef, and Zeta. In 2016, Bhavin, a billionaire, was ranked as the 95th richest person in India, along with his brother Divyank Turakhia, according to Forbes. He was a 2011 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) is an Indian payments bank, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Noida. In the same year, it received the license to run a payments bank from the Reserve Bank of India and was launched in November 2017. In 2021, the bank received a scheduled bank status from the RBI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One97 Communications</span> Indian multinational technology company

One97 Communications Ltd is an Indian multinational technology company, headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was founded in 2000 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Through its subsidiaries and businesses, the company offers digital payment and financial services to consumers and merchants in India. It also provides mobile advertising, marketing and payments for merchants.

Naveen Sachchidanand Tewari is an entrepreneur known for founding InMobi, a technology company based in India, and co-founding Glance, a Bangalore-based software company that operates the short-video content platform Roposo. He is also a co-founder of iSPIRT, a think tank for the Indian software products industry and was a board member at Paytm. The government of Uttar Pradesh has awarded him the highest state civilian award, the Uttar Pradesh Gaurav Samman. In 2013, he was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and received two awards including Pathbreaker of the Year and Future Leaders from prime minister of India Narendra Modi. He was also named among the India's top 30 startup founders by Tech in Asia.

References

  1. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma reappointed as MD & CEO of Paytm till Dec 2027". Economic Times.
  2. Jog, Natasha (20 August 2015). "Began College at 15, Has Billion-Dollar Firm at 37". NDTV.com.
  3. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". weforum.
  4. "Began College at 15, Has Billion-Dollar Firm at 37". NDTV.
  5. "Internet panel on languages ropes in Vijay Shekhar Sharma as ambassador". Business Standard. 19 January 2022.
  6. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". Forbes. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  7. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma Biography: Birth, Age, Family, Education, Career, Net Worth, Awards and More". Jagranjosh.
  8. Tiwari, Mahesh. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". newstrend.news. Newstrend. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  9. "How PayTM's Vijay Shekhar Sharma chased his dream instead of a degree". Scroll.
  10. "Interesting facts of PayTM founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma". Businessinsider.
  11. "Began College at 15, Has Billion-Dollar Firm at 37". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  12. Sinha, Suveen (20 August 2016). "How PayTM's Vijay Shekhar Sharma chased his dream instead of a degree". Scroll.in.
  13. "Before Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma Used To Own This Site That He Sold For $1 Million". Edtimes.
  14. 1 2 "The king of cash". Calcutta: The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
  15. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". Economic Times.
  16. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". Forbes. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  17. "Paytm dives to record low, wealth destruction for IPO investors tops $10 billion". Money Control.
  18. "Exclusive: Ola Electric Adds Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Zoya & Farhan Akhtar To Its Captable". inc42.
  19. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma-backed AjnaLens nets funding from Lets Ventures, angels, others". vccircle.
  20. "Board of Management Members - Netaji Subhas University of Technology".
  21. "Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma steps down from payments bank board". The Times of India. 26 February 2024.
  22. "Announcement under Regulation 30 (LODR)-Press Release / Media Release" (PDF). BSE Limited.
  23. "Pan India Excellence Awards for Rural and Urban Development Summit and Awards 2022 Distributed by Government of India". Newsvoir.
  24. Giri, Manish Kumar. "Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma ranked India's youngest billionaire in Forbes's latest list | Forbes India". Forbes India. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  25. "AIMA Managing India Awards 2018". Aima.
  26. "The 100 Most Influential People in the World". Time. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  27. "ET Awards for Corporate Excellence: Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma chosen as Entrepreneur of the Year". Economic Times. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  28. "GQ's Most Influential Young Indians 2017: Digital Disruptors". GQ (Indian edition). 7 July 2017.
  29. Sacchdeva, Malavika (6 March 2017). "Vijay Shekhar Sharma to be awarded as DQ IT Person of the Year at Digital Economy Conclave". Dataquest.
  30. "Airtel's Sunil Mittal, Paytm's Vijay Shekar given honorary degrees by Amity University". DNA INDIA.com.
  31. "Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma goes to meet UP CM Akhilesh Yadav ... in a rickshaw!". The Economic Times. 28 October 2016.
  32. "GQ Awards 2016 winners list". India.com. 28 September 2016.
  33. "NDTV confers Indian of the Year Award 2015". United News of India. 3 February 2016.
  34. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma wins IMPACT Person of The Year 2016 Award". Exchange4media. 14 December 2016.
  35. "India's Hottest Business Leaders under 40: Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma was the youngest engineer from Delhi University". The Economic Times. 19 June 2015.
  36. "Sabre Awards South Asia". Bestmediainfo. 21 September 2015.
  37. Upadhyay, Harsh; Tyagi, Gaurav (2 July 2020). "Paytm founder floats 2 new entities for personal investments". Entrackr.
  38. "Forbes profile: Vijay Sekhar Sharma". Forbes. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  39. "Vijay Sharma, Paytm: an for India". Financial Times.
  40. IANS (13 March 2022). "Paytm CEO was released on bail in Feb after hitting police officer's car". Business Standard India. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  41. "Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma named UN Environment's Patron for Clean Air". The Economic Times. 5 December 2017.
  42. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". Unep.org. 2021.