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Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma has offered to back Indian entrepreneurs building their own AI models with personal capital of INR 1-2 crore per founder, announced during his keynote at Cypher 2026 in Bengaluru. He said the amount could increase if more serious builders come forward, and offered access to Paytm’s distribution network to help founders reach customers.
Sharma clarified that the offer is personal and does not involve Paytm’s corporate funds, noting that as a listed company, Paytm cannot commit its capital to such bets. He presented founders two routes: join Paytm or build their own venture with his backing.
Sharma argued that India has spent too long building applications on top of technology developed and owned elsewhere, while much of the underlying capability remains outside the country. He said India can continue using foreign models while developing domestic capabilities, particularly for strategic use cases and acknowledged that India is unlikely to build frontier models entirely on its own.
He estimated the cost of building an AI model at under USD 100 million, an estimate rather than a budget attached to the cheques. The bigger challenge, he said, is the willingness to commit to building something difficult over the long term.
The announcement comes as Paytm builds its own AI offerings, including its recently launched enterprise AI service Paytm Intelligence and as its AI Soundbox answers merchants in 11 Indian languages.
“We’re unambitious,” Sharma said of India’s AI ambitions, urging founders to take on the risk of building models rather than only applications.
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