Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said sometimes you need to take care of some things yourself instead of banking on an adviser or a teammate – a key takeaway from his learnings. Sharma was speaking at a financial technology conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, his first appearance since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed regulatory actions on its payments arm.
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned is that many times your teammate and adviser may not be getting it correct…“And it is important for you, yourself to be taking care of it versus just letting a teammate or a adviser suggest what it should be,” said Sharma.
The Paytm founder also voiced his confidence that the digital payments giant will overcome the regulatory penalties and come back as a stronger company. He said that things have become very big and systemically important, very fast. “We have been able to very happily see our regulator engage,” said Sharma. He said that the regulators play an important role in creating a healthy environment for startups in India.
He also said that Asia has the opportunity to build a financial system for the next generation. Sharma further added: “Make Paytm an Asia leader – in my lifetime, I would like to do that.”
Vijay Shekhar Sharma resigned from the board of Paytm Payments Bank in February after RBI’s regulatory action against the company. RBI prohibited the bank from accepting new deposits in its customer accounts or wallets and from onboarding new customers.
RBI said that the curbs were imposed after years of warning to the company. It said that enough time was given to the company to correct its course.
Shares of Paytm parent, One 97 Communications Ltd, were trading almost flat in Wednesday's early deals. The stock was last seen 0.14 per cent higher at Rs 404.65. Bourses BSE and NSE have put the securities of Paytm under the long-term ASM (Additional Surveillance Measure) framework. Exchanges put stocks in short-term or long-term ASM frameworks to caution investors about high volatility in share prices.