4 Notable Moments of Paytm's CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma There are several moments where this CEO has proven to be a good study, bright mind and an unpredictable success story. Let's look at four such moments that make him memorable.
By Kavya Pillai
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The son of a school teacher from a small city in the north of India, Vijay Shekhar Sharma has established himself in the fast-paced mobile wallet game with his company, Paytm. He put himself on the charts when he surprised the world by getting Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to invest $300 million in Paytm. Along with this Sharma has also created an e-commerce business called Paytm Mall and Paytm Payments Bank.
Apart from his businesses, there are several moments where this CEO has proven to be a good study, bright mind and an unpredictable success story. Let's look at four such moments that make him memorable.
1. His prompt philanthropy
Recently, India witnessed one of the deadliest train crashes that left 278 dead and thousands of passengers injured. States such as Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have joined forces to locate missing people. Paytm announced a new option that would help the victims of the Odisha train crash. Sharma via Twitter announced that the Paytm Foundation would match every contribution made via the platform. His prompt response in a time of need caught the attention of many and was praised for his much-needed contribution.
2. Playing the radical Elon Musk Game
When Elon Musk took over Twitter as the new CEO he presented users with a variety of shocking changes. One such change included charging eight US dollars for accounts to be marked as verified (with a blue tick). Sharma penned his witty response to Musk that said he is willing to not just pay 8 but 80 dollars a month! Shockingly Sharma tweeted that he would not be paying the sum for the infamous blue tick which his account already had but for the eradication of fake accounts pretending to be his company Paytm on the social media platform. "Dear @elonmusk we will pay $80/month, if you give us methods to fast forward blocking fake accounts impersonating @PaytmCare handles here. (hint: they use our copyrighted logo in DP)," he posted.
3. Breaking Bollywoods Heart
A journalist on Twitter simply shared her thoughts about Bollywood's Golden Era. Little did we know this would receive a tweet that netizens couldn't fathom or accept. "1975 is often called the golden year of Hindi cinema with some of the biggest blockbusters. Which movie would you pick to remember this year?" wrote the journalist. She then proceeded to list 10 iconic Hindi films that were released in 1975 which included Sholay, Aandhi, Chhoti Si Baat, Chupke Chupke and Deewar. To this Sharma responded, "I haven't watched any of these! (Yes, not even Sholay)". Within minutes the comments section was flooded with dozens of people letting the Paytm boss know what he is missing out on, what he should watch next and some other film recommendations.
4. Demonetization: Paytm's Biggest Gain
The country woke to chaos the night after the 8th of November,2016. The sudden decision of the government to ban Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes post-midnight had people scrambling to manage their finances. A simple ad changed the trajectory of the company overnight. The government's sudden decision to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes post-midnight. A decision was taken to publish the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, congratulating him on this move. Kiran Vasireddy, the chief operating officer of Paytm shared, "It was clearly Vijay's idea, that this is kind of a historic moment for India so why don't we thank our Prime Minister congratulating him on the audacious move...that we thank you for taking such a step making the country move forwards towards a cashless economy."
