Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma revolutionised digital payment in India and rose to become one of the main poster boys of startups in the country. However, like any other person, he too had his own share of traumatic experiences as a student. Despite being a school topper, he had to face humiliation in engineering college due to his discomfort in English language.
He narrated his ordeal while appearing in Netflix’s The Great Indian Kapil Show along with BOAT’s Aman Gupta, MamaEarth’s Ghazal Alagh, and OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal.
Paytm chief’s Taare Zameen Par moment
Sharma said that being a topper he typically sat in the front bench in his class, but a shocking incident forced him to shift to the back row, and eventually even stop attending the classes.
Once one of his college teachers asked him a question in English which made him feel like the boy in Taare Zameen Par who felt the ‘letters were dancing around him.’
“Gradually, I fell behind in my studies and was relegated to the back benches, and eventually out of the class,” he narrated. Sharma suggested that due to poor score, he had to appear for supplementary exams. He revealed that he prayed hard for clearing his exams as he never wanted to return to the engineering college.
He noted that all this happened because of the language barrier in India, and added that one should always speak in the language they are comfortable in in order to be successful.
How Paytm was born
Sharma also shared how he got the idea of launching Paytm on the show after he misplaced his wallet at Delhi airport lounge while flying out overseas and he was left just with his phone. “I figured other than wallets, phones are the other frequent occupant of pockets. People use their phones more, so I just merged the wallet into the phone,” Sharma shared.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma hails from a village near Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh.
The Paytm founder said he has invested Rs 40000 crores in India to teach people about digital payments.
“We made huge investments initially but I am happy about the fact that no matter where you go in the world everyone talks highly about India’s payment system. We have got our money’s worth,” he noted.
‘Rs 1-2 lakh is enough for basic needs’: Sharma
When Kapil asked as to how much money is enough for a good life, the billionaire Paytm chief said: “Honestly I think all you really need is enough money to meet your basic needs.”
“A lakh or two per month is enough. What else do you need to live,” he added.
Kapil shot back jokingly: “So could you keep that much and Paytm the rest to us.” This triggered a big laughter from hosts, guests and viewers alike.
Another hilarious moment from the show was when BOAT’s co-founder Aman Gupta credited Archana Puran Singh’s trademark laughter for his brand’s success. “Aapki laughter ko humne R&D factory mein diya hua hai noise cancellation check karne ke liye. Humare saare headphone hit hai!” he said.
The startup-special episode premiered on August 23, Saturday, and featured tonnes of entertaining moments from punchy lines to comic acts by Sunil Grover, Krushna Abhishek and Kiku Sharda.
Sunil Grover as Diamond Raja, Krushna Abhishek as Jaggu Dada and Kiku Sharda as Tiger entertained the audiences thoroughly with their superb comic timing.