New Delhi: Vijay Shekhar Sharma has seen some really bad days.
The telecom business he started with funds from his parents had collapsed and there had been days when he had to manage with just Rs 10 in his pocket.
That is the flashback.
Sharma, 39, now heads Paytm, the company that has become a synonym for digital transaction in the country. Its current valuation is estimated at $8 billion (Rs 52,000 crore).
Paytm, a mobile wallet and e-commerce company, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of demonetization, as the cash scarcity pushed people to transact more through digital means.
Sharma was having dinner with industrialist Harsh Goenka in a Mumbai hotel when the Prime Minister was making the demonetization announcement.
The Paytm founder got the news via a message on his phone. The young businessman could not eat after that as he realized that it was a watershed moment in his life, said Goenka, recalling the moment.
Sharma founded the digital payments company in 2010, but no one had taken it seriously until a year ago. But Paytm, with its “Paytm Karo” catchphrase, turned out to be the savior for the common man at a time when cash suddenly disappeared.
Paytm stands for Pay Through Mobile. Its user base has increased more than two-and-a-half times to 28 crore now from 11 crore last year. And, it pushed Sharma onto Forbe’s list of young Indian billionaires.
Click to explore more exclusive news from Onmanorama's Demonetization Special