visimoney
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder and CEO of Paytm, has faced several controversies throughout his career in the fintech industry.
- In 2011, Sharma launched Paytm, which started as a mobile recharging service but later expanded to include wallet services.
- The company experienced significant growth following the demonetization in 2016, which led to a decrease in the circulation of physical currency.
- In 2018, Paytm received a $300 million investment from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
- Paytm faced controversies related to its Chinese connections due to investments from Alibaba Group, which held a 34.7% stake in the company.
- To shed its Chinese-owned entity image, Paytm announced that Sharma would acquire a 10.3% stake in Antfin, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group.
- Since its IPO in November 2021, Paytm’s market cap has significantly decreased, and the company’s stock has struggled to recover.
- Paytm has faced scrutiny and penalties from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on multiple occasions.
- RBI prohibited Paytm Payments Bank from opening new accounts in 2018 due to supervisory concerns, which were later lifted.
- Paytm has faced penalties from RBI for non-compliance with KYC provisions, false information submission, and failure to implement proper risk profiling and monitoring of payout services.
The controversies surrounding Paytm and Vijay Shekhar Sharma highlight the challenges and risks involved in the fintech industry and the importance of regulatory compliance.
