Without money, struggled for food: Paytm founder Vijay Shanker Sharma

Gurgaon: Vijay Shanker Sharma, founder of mobile wallet brand Paytm, on Saturday said that after getting an engineering degree, he had a hard time finding a job and struggled for food due to lack of money.

After receiving an honorary doctorate degree from Amity University Gurgaon, Sharma said he faced many troubles during his studies and after completing his engineering but never gave up.

Sharma said his parents tried to force him to get married.

"I was facing a hard time without job. I was not in position to explain the situation to my family. I had to travel 14 km from Priya Cinema in Vasant Kunj to Kashmere Gate, my college campus, for a meal."

Coming from a Hindi background, he said he faced many challenges after taking admission in an English medium engineering course in electronics and communication in Delhi in 1998.

"I was nervous as I could not understand what was taught in class. I was always worried how I would pass my examinations," Sharma said.

He said when he thought of the idea of Paytm and discussed it with a few people, they termed it stupid and tried to demoralise him saying if it was effective, someone else would have done it long ago.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and CEO of Bharti Enterprises, was also conferred an honorary doctorate degree.