Vijay Shekhar Sharma
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. (May 2021) |
Vijay Shekhar Sharma | |
|---|---|
 Vijay Shekhar Sharma | |
| Born | 7 June 1978 Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Alma mater | Delhi College of Engineering |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder & CEO of Paytm |
| Spouse(s) | Mridula Parashar (m. 2015) |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | Yash Bharati |
Vijay Shekhar Sharma (born 1978) is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of financial technology company Paytm.[2] He was ranked as India's youngest billionaire in 2017 by Forbes with a net worth of $1.3 billion.[3] He has been featured in Time Magazine's World's 100 Most Influential People 2017 List.[4] He is the recipient of Yash Bharati, the highest civilian honor of the Government of Uttar Pradesh.[5] In 2020, he was ranked as the #62nd richest person in India, with a net worth of US$2.35 billion, according to Forbes.[6] He got appointed Universal Acceptance ambassador in India by ICANN UASG.
Early life and education[]
Vijay Shekhar was born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh on 7 June 1978, the third of the four children of Sulom Prakash, a school teacher, and Asha Sharma, a home maker.[7]
He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering (now Delhi Technological University).[8] He did his schooling from a Hindi medium school in Harduaganj, a small town near Aligarh.[9]
Career[]
In 1997, while in college, he started the website indiasite.net, and sold it two years later for $1 million.[10]
In 2000, he started One97 Communications which offered mobile content including news, cricket scores, ringtones, jokes and exam results. One97 is the parent company of Paytm, which was launched by Sharma in 2010.[10]
Paytm has over 400 million users who make 25 million transactions daily. In 2018, Sharma got Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett to invest $300 million in the company.[11]
Awards and recognition[]
- In 2017, he was named the youngest billionaire in India, with a net worth of $1.3 billion. He was ranked #1567in the list of Forbes's 'The World's Billionaires' list.[3]
- Sharma was in the list of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in 2017.[12]
- Sharma was awarded the ET Entrepreneur of the Year, by The Economic Times in 2016[13]
- He was ranked 4th by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017.[14]
- In 2017, he became the Dataquest IT Man of the year.[15]
- He received an Honorary doctorate from Amity University, Gurgaon, in 2016[16]
- Sharma was honored with the Yash Bharati, the highest state civilian award of the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 2016.[5]
- He was named as the Businessman of the Year at GQ Men of the Year Awards 2016.[17]
- He was conferred with the NDTV Indian of the Year in 2016.[18]
- He was named India's Hottest Business Leader under 40 by The Economic Times in 2015.[19]
Personal life[]
He is married to Mridula Parashar Sharma[20] and they have a child.[1] His father was a school teacher.[21] He cites Alibaba's founder Jack Ma and Masayoshi Son of Softbank, as his inspirations.[22]
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.[23][24]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ a b "Forbes profile: Vijay Sekhar Sharma". Forbes. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ Jog, Natasha (20 August 2015). "Began College at 15, Has Billion-Dollar Firm at 37". NDTV.com.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "The 100 Most Influential People in the World". Time. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ a b "Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma goes to meet UP CM Akhilesh Yadav ... in a rickshaw!". The Economic Times. 28 October 2016.
- ^ Arakali, Harichandan (10 November 2020). "India's Richest: Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma fights fierce competition". Forbes India.
- ^ Tiwari, Mahesh. "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". newstrend.news. Newstrend. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ "Began College at 15, Has Billion-Dollar Firm at 37". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
- ^ Sinha, Suveen (20 August 2016). "How PayTM's Vijay Shekhar Sharma chased his dream instead of a degree". Scroll.in.
- ^ a b "The king of cash". Calcutta: The Telegraph.
- ^ "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". Forbes. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
- ^ "The 100 Most Influential People in the World". Time. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ "ET Awards for Corporate Excellence: Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma chosen as Entrepreneur of the Year". Economic Times. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
- ^ "GQ's Most Influential Young Indians 2017: Digital Disruptors". GQ (Indian edition). 7 July 2017.
- ^ Sacchdeva, Malavika (6 March 2017). "Vijay Shekhar Sharma to be awarded as DQ IT Person of the Year at Digital Economy Conclave". Dataquest.
- ^ "Airtel's Sunil Mittal, Paytm's Vijay Shekar given honorary degrees by Amity University". DNA INDIA.com.
- ^ "GQ Awards 2016 winners list". India.com. 28 September 2016.
- ^ "NDTV confers Indian of the Year Award 2015". United News of India. 3 February 2016.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Upadhyay, Harsh; Tyagi, Gaurav (2 July 2020). "Paytm founder floats 2 new entities for personal investments". Entrackr.
- ^ Punj, Shwweta (4 January 2021). "In college, I didn't understand what the teacher was saying: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma". India Today.
- ^ "Vijay Sharma, Paytm: an for India". Financial Times.
- ^ "Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma named UN Environment's Patron for Clean Air". The Economic Times. 5 December 2017.
- ^ "Vijay Shekhar Sharma". Unep.org. 2021.
- Businesspeople from Uttar Pradesh
- Living people
- 1978 births
- Delhi Technological University alumni
- Indian billionaires
- Indian company founders