Mobile payments firm Paytm kicks off India’s biggest IPO

MUMBAI: India’s biggest-ever initial public offering opened Monday with digital payments platform Paytm looking to raise nearly $2.5 billion, in what has already been a record year for share listings.
Paytm is backed by Chinese tycoon Jack Ma’s Ant Group, Japan’s SoftBank and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which together own around a third of the company.
The firm was founded barely a decade ago by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the son of a schoolteacher who says he learned English by listening to rock music.