Watch: Vijay Shekhar Sharma chokes up as he speaks at Paytm listing ceremony

As the national anthem started playing at Paytm’s listing ceremony at BSE, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, 43, was overhwhelmed.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma had an emotional moment while speaking at the Bombay Stock Exchange as his digital payments company made its stock market debut.

As the national anthem started playing at Paytm’s listing ceremony at BSE, Sharma, 43, was overhwhelmed.

An emotional Sharma began his address in Hindi, saying how teary-eyed he gets whenever he hears the national anthem. “Abhi mere saath yeh ho gaya, kyunki aapne rashtra gaan gaa diya (it just happened to me because you sang the national anthem," he said.

He said the lines, “bharat bhagya vidhata” in the national anthem overwhelms him. “It just overwhelms me. Just saying these words gets tears in my eyes,” he said, wiping his tears with a handkerchief during his address in what is a momentous occasion for his company.

"People tell me how do I raise money at such high prices, and I just tell them that I never raise money on the price, raise money on purpose."

https://t.co/8o85FaBmlo

— BSE India (@BSEIndia) November 18, 2021

Paytm operator One 97 Communications had a disappointing listing on the bourses today as it fell 9 per cent on debut. The stock opened at Rs 1,950 on the National Stock Exchange and the listing price on the BSE was Rs 1,955, against issue price of Rs 2,150.

Sharma was joined by his young son as they rang the Opening Bell at 10 am sharp, to mark the listing of Paytm.

#Watch The moment when @Paytm became a listed company! @vijayshekhar strikes the gong at the listing ceremony accompanied by his son #PaytmListing #PaytmIPO #Paytm pic.twitter.com/sn64fb07Jh

— moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) November 18, 2021

Earlier this month, Paytm opened its initial public offering (IPO), in what is the largest-ever public issue in the history of Indian capital markets.

The Rs 18,300-crore public issue of Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications, the largest ever in India, saw a tepid response from investors. It was subscribed 1.89 times during November 8-10 due to lower-than-expected response in the qualified institutional buyer and high net-worth individual (HNI) categories.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the son of a schoolteacher from Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh, founded Paytm in 2010. He says he learned English by listening to rock music. He was ranked India's youngest dollar billionaire four years ago at the age of 38 and now has a net worth of $2.4 billion, according to Forbes. He owns a nearly 14-percent stake.