By Haripriya Suresh, VarunVyas Hebbalalu and Aditya Kalra

BENGALURU/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A rags-to-riches story, Vijay Shekhar Sharma isn’t any stranger to controversy. Now, India’s startup king faces arguably his largest disaster in a race to avoid wasting his revolutionary digital funds agency that had as soon as counted Warren Buffett as a backer.

Sharma has put up a courageous face whilst nervous buyers plundered $2 billion off Paytm’s valuation after India’s central financial institution ordered his banking arm to cease most of it operations from March 1 for “persistent non-compliances” and “supervisory considerations”.

The ruling threatens important enterprise disruptions because the financial institution is the spine of his ubiquitous Paytm funds app utilized by thousands and thousands each day in a nation the place money was as soon as king.

The check for Sharma, whose early days of life had been certainly one of hardship and challenges, is to maintain the operations operating and restore investor confidence. His newest troubles have attracted loads of media publicity, not least due to his speedy rise to change into certainly one of India’s elite businessmen – at one level shifting into the nation’s top-100 richest membership.

The chief has additionally discovered many allies in India’s startup world as he typically talks up their considerations, together with publicly criticising Google (NASDAQ:) saying its practices harm smaller firms.

Sharma described the regulatory motion towards Paytm as a “velocity bump” this week throughout a convention name with analysts. He held out the hope of partnering with different banks and reassured buyers the Paytm app will proceed to work.

The markets, nevertheless, stay sceptical of a fast decision to the regulatory roadblock.

Paytm’s valuation crashed to $3.7 billion after it misplaced $2 billion on Mumbai bourses this week. Since its 2021 IPO that valued Paytm at round $20 billion, the inventory has now tanked 75%, and analysts at JP Morgan say the corporate now might want to “restore credibility” of the enterprise.

Sharma did not return a Reuters request for remark.

HEAT

It is not the primary time the 45-year-old CEO has grabbed the headlines, and for all of the unsuitable causes.

Recalling the agency’s 2021 IPO valuation which confronted backlash from buyers and analysts when the inventory plummeted on debut, one startup business govt who spoke on situation of anonymity described him as “too bombastic”.

After Paytm’s market debut burned many buyers and critics railed towards lofty valuations India’s market regulator took steps to tighten scrutiny of IPOs.

The corporate’s speedy rise owed as a lot to Sharma’s ambitions as to a serious coverage shift in Asia’s third-largest financial system in 2016 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi shocked markets by banning high-value foreign money notes in a single day.

Sharma, who launched Paytm in 2009 providing cell recharges, instantly noticed the alternatives of the demonetisation transfer that may find yourself remodeling the agency because the nation’s premier digital funds platform.

The federal government choice angered many Indians who for years used money as their primary mode of funds, however Sharma took out front-page adverts with Modi’s picture, calling it the “boldest choice within the monetary historical past of unbiased India”.

In the present day with 330 million pockets accounts, Paytm has garnered widespread acceptance.

Together with its rivals like Google Pay and Walmart (NYSE:)’s PhonePe apps, many Indians use the digital providers for sweet funds as little as 10 rupees (12 U.S. cents) to home goods and groceries. Even beggars in India have been noticed utilizing Paytm or different digital QR codes to hunt alms.

Paytm presently trades at 487.2 rupees versus its 2021 market itemizing of 1,950 rupees. In current months, the agency’s huge backer SoftBank (TYO:) pared its stake, whereas different key buyers Alibaba (NYSE:) and Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:) bought their holdings.

UNDETERRED

Hailing from the small city of Aligarh within the nation’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, Sharma, a educated engineer, as soon as mentioned he did not have cash to journey, and used to arrange web connections at properties to make a residing.

Years after Paytm’s humble beginnings in 2009, the celebrities aligned for him when he raised billions from Alibaba’s Jack Ma and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son after 2015, and posted common selfies with them.

As India’s regulators took goal at Paytm this week, many entrepreneurs backed him to emerge from the disaster stronger. Vishal Gondal, his good friend and CEO of Indian preventive-health firm GOQii, advised Reuters the Paytm boss performs finest throughout adversities.

“All of us see a little bit little bit of us in what Vijay does,” mentioned Gondal. “The query everyone seems to be asking is – if such a harsh step was crucial?”

In a 2021 interview with Reuters, Sharma mentioned his dream was to take the “Paytm flag to San Francisco, New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo.”

Quick ahead to 2024, and that dream may need a combat on its arms.

In a notice on Paytm titled “Is that this the top of the street?”, Macquarie mentioned the regulatory motion “considerably hampers Paytm’s means to retain clients” and restricts it from promoting fee and mortgage merchandise.

Sharma stays undeterred.

“For each problem, there’s a resolution and we’re sincerely dedicated to serve our nation in full compliance,” he wrote on X on Friday. (This story has been refiled to repair a typographical error in paragraph 18)