Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma 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 NSE 5.44 % service.