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Paytm CEO's fixation on delivering record IPO blamed for first-day flop

The slump is 'no indicator of the value of our company,' says Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

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A storekeeper uses a Paytm All-In-One POS payment device arranged at a medical store in Mumbai. Paytm is India's digital payments pioneer backed by SoftBank Group. (Photo: Bloomberg)

Saritha Rai, Suvashree Ghosh and Nupur Acharya | Bloomberg
Vijay Shekhar Sharma wiped away tears of joy as he recounted his rise from a “commoner” to the leader of a digital payments giant that just completed India’s biggest-ever initial public offering.

“The dreams of a young country are with me,” said the founder and chief executive officer of One 97 Communications Ltd., operator of the Paytm service, before striking the opening gong at the Bombay Stock Exchange at 10 a.m. local time on Thursday.

By 11 a.m., Sharma’s long-anticipated coming out party had turned into one of the worst opening days for a blockbuster tech listing since the dot-com