Siddharth Pandey, an Indian electronics engineer, will become a millionaire after the country’s largest-ever public offering, but he claims he had to overcome his father’s reluctance to join fintech startup Paytm nine years ago when it was a young start-up.
According to Reuters, after Paytm’s $2.5 billion IPO, some 350 current and former employees will each have a net worth of at least 10 million Indian rupees ($134,401.38). When the firm goes public next week, many people, including Pandey, will become millionaires.
In a country where the per capita income is less than $2,000, such rewards are enormous.
Pandey, now 39, has left the company and is employed by another start-up, which he refuses to name. However, he claims that his seven years at Paytm resulted in him owning tens of thousands of shares.
He wouldn’t say much, although the shares were trading at 2,150 rupees ($28.9) each on Friday. Pandey claims he is worth more than a million dollars.
“My father was a real downer. ‘What is this Paytime?!’ he exclaimed “Pandey told Reuters that when he joined Paytm in 2013, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
“‘For once, work for a well-known corporation,’ my father advised.”
“He (my father) appears to be extremely pleased now. He’s just told me to keep my feet on the ground “Pandey hails from Uttar Pradesh, which is both the country’s most populous and one of its poorest states.
Paytm was essentially a tiny payments startup with less than 1,000 employees when Pandey arrived. The company now employs over 10,000 people and provides a wide range of services, including banking, retail, movie and airline ticketing, and gaming.
Pandey claims he spent about 400,000 rupees ($5,376) on a five-day luxury trip to Udaipur, a major tourist destination in the desert state of Rajasthan, in September to celebrate.
“Paytm has never been stingy with its money. Vijay (Sharma, the Paytm founder) has always wanted people to make money and advance in their careers “Pandey explained.
He claims that the windfall will enable him to work in startups where he is not solely focused on his income or perhaps assist his in return to academics. He is married and has two children.
“A portion of the money will go into my retirement fund, and the rest will go toward my children’s education,” he explained. $1 equals 74.40 Indian rupees.
