Paytm IPO: From dad’s objection to hitting jackpot, check millionaire ex-employee’s success story

Siddharth Pandey, an ex-employee of Paytm, is one of the many individuals who are all set to turn millionaires with the company's IPO.

New Delhi: Siddharth Pandey, an ex-employee of Paytm, is all set to become a millionaire with the initial public offering (IPO) of the fintech major’s parent company, One97. The electronics engineer had joined the start-up nine years ago when little was known about Paytm. 

Even his father had reportedly opposed the idea of him joining the company. Pandey told Reuters that, "My dad was very demotivating.” His father had asked him, "What is this Paytime?", at the time he joined the company way back in 2013.

Pandey had joined the company when the company had less than 1000 employees. At present, more than 10,000 employees work for the fintech startup that is all set to go public with its recently concluded IPO. 

Pandey, now 39, has left Paytm and is currently working at another start-up. However, he was awarded tens of thousands of shares during his seven-year stint at Paytm. The shares are currently priced at about Rs 2,150 apiece, as of Friday (November 12).

However, he still remembers the objection he faced from his father at the time of joining the company. “For once work in a company people know about,' his father had said to him. 

However, all that is now in history, as his father must now be a happy parent. "Now he (my father) is obviously very happy. He has just asked me to stay grounded," Pandey added. 

Besides Pandey, close to 350 current and ex-employees of Paytm are expected to become millionaires after the company’s Paytm's $2.5 billion IPO, according to a source quoted in a Reuters report.

Pandey told the publication that he would be worth more than $1 million. He celebrated the occasion by taking his father on a five-day luxury trip to Udaipur. The trip to one of the most popular destinations in the Rajasthan in September reportedly cost him roughly Rs 4 lakh. 

"Paytm has always been a generous paymaster. Vijay (Sharma, the Paytm founder) has always wanted that people make money, they move up in life," Pandey was quoted as saying. Also Read: Amazon's Echo speakers get smarter, will now be able to detect people in a room

He is currently married and has two children. "Part of the money goes into my retirement fund and I will use a large part of it for my kids' education," he said. Also Read: GST Fraud: Officers unearth Rs 34 crore input tax credit fraud involving 7 firms