Paytm founder compares himself to Elon Musk after historic IPO flop

The founder and chief executive officer of One 97 Communications Ltd. compared his company to Tesla Inc. — and by extension drew parallels between himself and Elon Musk — after the Indian payments startup suffered a brutal first-day plunge following its initial public offering.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma held a four-hour town hall to rally employees who had watched the company’s stock plummet 27% on Thursday, according to people who had attended. The 43-year-old encouraged them to look past the initial stumble and to focus on the long-term opportunities for bringing digital payments to the country’s fast-growing internet population. One 97 Communications is the parent company for the Paytm service.