A company source told Reuters that after Paytm’s $2.5 billion IPO, around 350 current and former employees will have a net worth of at least 10 million Indian rupees (134,401.38). Many, like Pandey, will become dollar millionaires on the company’s list next week.
Those rewards are huge in a country where per capita income is less than $2,000.
Pandey, 39, is no longer with the company and is working at another start-up, which he declined to be identified with. But he says that his seven-year stint at Paytm left him with thousands of shares.
He declined to give details, but shares were priced at Rs 2,150 ($28.9) on Friday. Pandey said he would be worth more than $1 million.
Referring to the time he joined Paytm in 2013, Pandey told Reuters, “My dad was very demotivating. He said, ‘What is this Paytm?!?!
“‘People once knew working in a company,’ said my father.
“Now he (my father) is obviously very happy. He has asked me to stay grounded,” Pandey said. Uttar PradeshThe country’s most populous state and one of its poorest.
When Pandey joined Paytm, it was primarily a small payments company with less than 1,000 employees. Today the firm has over 10,000 employees and provides a wide range of services from banking, shopping, movie and travel ticketing to gaming.
To celebrate, Pandey says he went on a five-day luxury trip to Udaipur, a popular tourist destination in the desert state of Rajasthan, in September that cost around 400,000 rupees ($5,376).
“Paytm has always been a generous payer. Vijay (Sharma, founder of Paytm) always wanted people to make money, move ahead in life,” Pandey said.
Married and with two kids, he says the windfall will allow him to work in startups where he doesn’t focus solely on his income or even help him get back into academics. does not do.
“A part of the money goes to my retirement fund and I will use a large part of it for my children’s education,” he said.