| Vijay Shekhar Sharma Quick Info | |
|---|---|
| Height | 5 ft 8 in |
| Weight | 82 kg |
| Date of Birth | June 7, 1978 |
| Zodiac Sign | Gemini |
| Spouse | Mridula Parashar Sharma |
Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an Indian technology entrepreneur who is best known as the founder, managing director, and CEO of Paytm, an Indian multinational financial technology company that specializes in digital payments and financial services. An acronym for the phrase ‘pay through mobile’, Paytm offers payment services to consumers via a phone-based terminal and enables merchants to receive payments through a QR code and an online payment gateway. Apart from bill payments and money transfers, it also provides ticketing services, retail brokerage products, online games, and even other financial services such as microcredit and ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes to its consumers and merchants. For the fiscal year 2022-23, Paytm‘s gross merchandise value (a term used in online retailing to indicate a total sales monetary value for merchandise sold through a particular marketplace over a certain time frame) was reported to be approximately USD 170 billion. Paytm was founded in August 2010 under One97 Communications Ltd., a multinational technology company that was founded in 2000 – also by Vijay. One97 Communications Ltd. offers digital payment services to consumers and merchants as well as mobile advertising and marketing services for merchants. In November 2021, this company became publicly listed after the largest-ever IPO (Initial Public Offering) in India’s history – raising capital worth USD 2.5 billion at a valuation of USD 19 billion.
Born Name
Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Nick Name
Vijay
Sun Sign
Gemini
Born Place
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Residence
New Delhi, India
Nationality
Education
Vijay had attended a school in Harduaganj, a small town near his birthplace of Aligarh. He graduated from high school when he was just about 15 years old. He then joined the Delhi College of Engineering (now known as the Delhi Technological University), a state university located in Rohini, a neighborhood in the North West Delhi district of the Union Territory of Delhi. He graduated from there with a B. Tech. (Bachelor of Technology) degree when he was just about 19 years old.
Occupation
Technology Entrepreneur
Family
- Father – Sulom Prakash Sharma (Retired School Teacher)
- Mother – Asha Sharma
- Siblings – Ajay Shekhar Sharma (Younger Brother) (Business Executive, Senior Vice President at Paytm). He also has 2 older sisters.
Net Worth
In April 2022, Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s net worth was $1.2 billion according to Forbes.
Build
Average
Height
5 ft 8 in or 173 cm
Weight
82 kg or 181 lbs
Girlfriend / Spouse
Vijay has dated –
- Mridula Parashar Sharma (2005-Present) – Vijay married Mridula Parashar in 2005 and they have a son together named Vivaan Sharma.
Race / Ethnicity
Asian (Indian)
Hair Color
Black
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
- Stocky frame
- Side-parted, receding, wavy hair
- Bespectacled
- Cheerful smile
- Clean-shaven look
- Has a scar mark on his forehead
Religion
Hinduism
Vijay Shekhar Sharma Facts
- In 1997, while still studying at the Delhi College of Engineering, Vijay started a website called indiasite.net. About 2 years later, he sold it for USD 1 million.
- In 2000, he founded One97 Communications Ltd., a technology company that offers digital payment services to consumers and merchants as well as mobile advertising and marketing services for merchants.
- Paytm, a popular digital payments company that made Vijay a well-known face in India after the cashless transactions revolution took off in the country in the mid-2010s, was founded in August 2010 under One97 Communications Ltd.
- In 2016, he was named the ‘ET Entrepreneur of the Year’ by The Economic Times – an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. The same year, he was honored with the Yash Bharati, the highest state civilian award of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India as well as his home state.
- In 2017, Vijay was included in Time 100 – an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, published by Time – a renowned American news magazine.
- In 2018, he was honored with the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award by AIMA (All India Management Association), the apex body of the management profession in the country.
- In late January 2024, he was embroiled in controversy after Paytm Payments Bank (founded in 2017), an Indian payments bank in which Vijay holds a 51% stake and is a promoter, was stopped from onboarding new customers by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India, India’s central bank and the regulatory body responsible for managing the country’s banking system).
- A payments bank, a model conceptualized by the RBI, is a financial institution that can accept a restricted deposit amount from a customer, operate current/savings accounts, issue ATM cards, and provide online/mobile banking. Such institutions cannot issue loans and credit cards.
- RBI had flagged several non-compliances with regulatory norms with Paytm Payments Bank and ordered it to not accept deposits in any customer accounts after March 15, 2024. Due to the public nature of this controversy, Vijay had to resign as the part-time non-executive chairman and a board member of Paytm Payments Bank.
- He holds ambitions of starting a band that sings in Sanskrit, a classical language that he had studied in school.
Featured Image by Vijay Shekhar Sharma / Instagram
