'Paytm Is Indian' Trends As Company Faces Trolling Over Chinese Investment

As Paytm is being targeted for having Chinese shareholders, many people have taken to Twitter to defend the app.

File Photo: Getty Image

New Delhi: 'Paytm Is Indian' was trending on Twitter on Tuesday, after the app was being attacked over investment from Chinese companies. After the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps, Indian businesses with Chinese investments were brought under the scanner. One of the prominent apps being attacked is Paytm. According to reports, its shareholders include Ant Financials, SoftBank Vision Fund, SAIF Partners,  Vijay Shekhar Sharma, AGH, Berkshire Hathway and others. The biggest shareholder Ant Financials, which was formerly Alipay, is an affiliate company of the Chinese Alibaba Group. Paytm is being attacked over the same.

I welcome the government’s bold move to ban some #ChineseAppsBanned ,Now Narendra should show his 56” chest and ban #Paytm, which has massive Chinese investments. Time to put your money where your mouth is! #GoVocalForLocal pic.twitter.com/SwWTcCg6tH

— Manickam Tagore MP????????✋மாணிக்கம் தாகூர் (@manickamtagore) June 29, 2020

Many people took to Twitter for defending the app citing the founder being Vijay Shekhar Sharma who is the president and CEO with Ajay Shekhar Sharma being Vice president. Among those defending is Venture capitalist Anand Lunia who wrote a series of tweets to talk about companies being trolled for having funds from Chinese investors. He elaborated on how the companies being attacked are Indian as they are answerable to the country's law even if they have Chinese investment.

Paytm, Zomato, etc are all Indian cos. They have to follow Indian laws by being present here as a legal entity. 1/n

— Anand Lunia (@anandlunia) June 30, 2020

Other apps being targetted include Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Ola and ShareChat. Earlier, Vijay Shekhar Sharma had lauded the government's move to ban Chinese apps by calling it a "bold step in the national interest. A step towards Atmanirbhar App ecosystem".