Feels bad to be treated like a Third-World country by BigTech: Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Image: WikiMedia Commons)

Paytm Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vijay Shekhar Sharma said US-based technology giants should stop treating India, like a third-world country, since it has the largest consumer base for such companies.

"It feels bad to be treated like a Third-World country, when we are, in fact, the largest consumer internet market in the world," Sharma told the Economic Times.

"More than regulations (for Big Techs), it's about how some of these policies are enforced in India," he added.

Also read: Paytm Money launches F&O trading on the app

Japan's SoftBank Group, China's Ant Financial (an affiliate of Alibaba), and Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway are among the investors of One97 Communications, Paytm's parent company.

Sharma also said Indian entrepreneurs should call out Big Tech companies, to "make them aware" of any alleged unfair enforcement of policies.

"Suppression creates outcry…calling out these companies will make them aware," Sharma told the publication. "It's good that others are joining in too," he said.

He also spoke about WhatsApp's new privacy policy and criticising the messaging platform's clarification in newspaper advertisements.

"Why does Europe get a policy and India only a newspaper advertisement?" Sharma told The Economic Times.

WhatsApp has received backlash over its new policy, which enables data sharing with its parent company Facebook.

Sharma had in October 2020 slammed Google, after Paytm was temporarily removed from the Play Store over a violation of the former's anti-gambling policy.