Vijay Shekhar Sharma Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Bio/Wiki
Full Name	Vijay Shekhar Singh Sharma
Profession	Entrepreneur (Founder of Paytm)
Famous For	Being the founder of Paytm
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 170 cm in meters- 1.70 m in feet inches- 5’ 7”
Weight (approx.)	in kilograms- 85 kg in pounds- 187 lbs
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Personal Life
Date of Birth	8 July 1978 (Saturday)
Age (as of 2024)	46 Years
Birthplace	Harduaganj, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
Zodiac sign/Sun sign	Capricorn
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Harduaganj, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
School	Not Known (passed higher secondary at the age of 14)
College/University	Delhi College of Engineering (now, Delhi Technological University)
Educational Qualification	B.Tech in Electronics & Communication
Religion	Hinduism
Hobbies	Listening to Music, Reading, Bungee Jumping, River Rafting
Controversies	• Although Vijay Shekhar Sharma led Paytm generated huge revenues post the government's decision of demonetisation, the company also faced the wrath of politicians and common people for its 'opportunistic' marketing strategies. In one of its advertisements, Paytm had allegedly used PM Narendra Modi's photo to promote its wallet services, without prior permission from the authorities concerned. • In January 2017, Paytm Founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, made headlines when a video from his company's annual event went viral. In the video, Sharma, perhaps in an intoxicated state, can be seen making derogatory remarks against rival companies. • In August 2024, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a show-cause notice to Vijay as well as the other members of the Paytm for filing false information about Vijay's position in the company. • In October 2024, he received criticism after he posted on social media. In the post, he wrote "Ok Tata Bye Bye" as a closing phrase in a tribute to Ratan Tata, who passed away on 9 October 2024. He later deleted the post.
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Girlfriends	Not Known
Family
Wife/Spouse	Mridula Sharma
Children	Son- Vivaan Sharma Daughter- None
Parents	Father- Sulom Prakash Sharma (School Teacher) Mother- Asha Sharma (Homemaker)
Siblings	Brother- Ajay Shekhar Sharma (younger; Senior Vice President at Paytm) Sisters- 2 (both elder)
Favourite Things
Favourite Entrepreneurs	Masayoshi Son, Jack Ma
Favourite Politician	Narendra Modi
Favourite Singers/Bands	Coldplay, U2, Jim Morrison
Favourite Restaurants	Big Chill, The Great Kabab Factory, Dakshin
Favourite Watch Brand	Rolex
Favourite Cricketer	Sachin Tendulkar
Style Quotient
Assets/Properties	Owns a 6,000-sq-ft piece of land worth ₹82 crore in central Delhi’s Golf Links
Money Factor
Net Worth (approx.)	$2.1 billion (as in 2018)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vijay Shekhar Sharma

• Does Vijay Shekhar Sharma smoke?: Not Known

• Does Vijay Shekhar Sharma drink alcohol?: Yes

• A child prodigy of sorts, Sharma was only 14-years old when he passed his higher secondary education.

• However, while pursuing an engineering course at the Delhi Engineering College (now DTU), he became the butt of jokes in his class because of his “poor English”. Notably, Sharma had completed his school education completely in Hindi and thus had no exposure to the “foreign language”.

• Soon, he realised that if he wanted to make it big in his career, he had to be well-acquainted with the language. Hence, with the aid of Hindi-to-English translation books and second-hand magazines, Shekhar’s quest to learn the language began.

• In an interview, Shekhar revealed that he was always on the ‘extreme sides;’ as far as academics were concerned. At school, he stood among the toppers and always occupied the front seat in his class; however, at college, he was among the least scorers and always occupied the last benches during lectures.

• Inspired by Sabeer Bhatia, the founder of Yahoo, Sharma made internet his playground and began bunking his college lectures to develop something innovative. As a result, he, along with his friends, made a unique content management system, which went on to be utilised by some of the biggest news publications in the country; including ‘The Indian Express’.

• After graduating from college, Sharma joined an MNC. Despite getting some good bucks there, he left the company after only six months to start a business venture of his own.

•  His first business project; however, saw a plethora of obstacles because of his business partners, who reportedly conned off 40% of the ₹8 Lakhs that he had raised via the first round of funding in 2005.

• A few years later, Shekhar began one97 communications, the parent company of Paytm. One97; however, was initially planned to target three areas of internet- Content, Commerce, and Advertising. A “payment ecosystem” was integrated later and thus was born Paytm (Pay Through Mobile), which popularised the trend of mobile wallets in India.
  

  Vijay Shekhar Sharma one97 communication

• Notably, Jack Ma led Alibaba group is the biggest investor in Paytm.
  

  Vijay Shekhar Sharma With Jack Ma

• As of May 2017, Paytm’s valuation is estimated at $7 billion. 

• Owing to the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 currency notes; Paytm’s traffic increased by 435%, app downloads grew 200%, and a 250% rise in overall transactions and transaction value was seen at the end of November (2016).
  

• Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma were the only two Indians, who made it to the list of “Time’s 100 most influential people in the world” list.
  

  Vijay Shekhar Sharma With Narendra Modi

• With a net worth of around $1.3 billion, Sharma was the youngest Indian billionaire (1567th position overall) on the Forbes 2017 list of billionaires.

• Although he is not fond of wearing a watch, Sharma, in an interview, said that he would buy a “Rolex;” once the valuation of his company reaches $10 billion.

• India Today Magazine placed him at #18 on “India’s 50 Most powerful people of 2017” list.

• On 26 February 2024, Vijay stepped down as the part-time non-executive chairman of Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL). ^[1]Hindustan Times In January 2024, the RBI imposed some restrictions on PPBL, directing it to stop accepting deposits or top-ups after 15 March.