Vijay Shekhar Sharma once sold 40% of Paytm for ₹15L
What's the story
In a recent social media post, venture capitalist Deedy Das shared some interesting stories from his conversation with Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The anecdotes highlight the unconventional strategies and challenges that shaped India's largest digital payments platform. One of the most surprising revelations was how Sharma sold 40% of Paytm for just $17,000 (nearly ₹15 lakh) during a financial crisis to repay a loan.
Financial crunch
Stake sold during financial crisis
Das noted that the stake Sharma sold during the financial crunch would later be worth over $100 million. The post also highlighted Paytm's accidental role in launching PayPay, one of Japan's largest payments systems. However, despite its technical prowess, the company had to focus on India and not go global.
Twitter Post
Paytm accidentally launched Japan's biggest payments engine
I met the billionaire founder of PayTM and he shared some of the best startup stories I've ever heard:
— Deedy (@deedydas) September 24, 2025
— When times were tough, he sold 40% of the business for $17K to pay a loan which ended up being valued at $100M+
— PayTM accidentally launched the biggest payments engine in… pic.twitter.com/95LxwZQIsW
Growth strategy
QR codes on Lay's packets
Sharma also reminisced about a unique growth hack that involved putting Paytm QR codes on Coca-Cola bottles and Lay's packets. This way, users could scan the code to get ₹15 off. The strategy, which was linked to common consumer products, proved to be an inexpensive yet effective method of onboarding millions of users onto the platform.
Company profile
Paytm's journey so far
Founded by Sharma in 2010, Paytm is now a ₹75,000 crore fintech giant. The company's biggest growth spurt came after the demonetization of November 2016. Post-demonetization, Paytm's traffic surged by 435%, app downloads doubled, and there was a whopping 250% increase in both transactions and transaction value.