Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma: India is not playing the opportunity of AI at scale

Promising to channel Paytm’s energy into Artificial Intelligence this year, the company founder & CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, said that anyone not working around AI is not working towards the future. 

In a chat at the Global Fintech Fest 2025, Sharma pointed out that the generation that is living in the current times is largely underestimating the power of AI, which can bring about dramatic changes. “ I am uncomfortable with the fact that our country is not playing the opportunity of AI at a scale we need to play,” he said. 

Further, with US companies working on AI attracting billions from global investors, Sharma said that India today has enough access to risk capital, and money is not a constraint for innovation. Chiming in on AI sovereignty and reducing the dependence on operating systems built by US companies, he said, “India should not give the sovereignty of AI to the foreign world, and in my belief, we as a country are capable and will build it." 

On the sidelines of GFF, the company also announced the launch of AI capabilities on Paytm Soundbox. The AI integration is touted to act as an assistant that can interact with merchants to provide real-time insights and answers modelled on their payments and business performance. The device’s AI assistant can interact with merchants in 11 Indian languages.

With dual displays and a touchscreen, the new soundboxes will support   QR, tap, and insert card transactions. It is built on Android. “We believe AI can help small businesses scale faster and enable large enterprises to operate with greater efficiency and intelligence. We remain committed to making AI inclusive, reliable, and safe for everyone to use,” said Sharma, in a company release.