Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is planning its first big investment in India and it could be with home-grown digital payments giant Paytm.
According to the sources, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Paytm is in talks with Buffet for a few months pertaining to an investment of about Rs 2,000-2,500 crore in Paytm parent One97 Communication.
The deal is said to be struck at a valuation of $10-12 billion, reported an English daily.
Paytm was started by Vijat Shekhar Sharma in 2010 and it soon became one of the leading digital payments and e-commerce brands in India. After receiving licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it is also running its payment bank in India. Its investors include brands like Softbank, SAIF Partners, Alibaba Group and Ant Financial.
In addition, it has also started selling investment products like gold and mutual funds.
Paytm’s popularity accelerated many folds during the time of demonetisation when higher denomination notes were recalled and digital payments became the preferred mode of transaction for Indians.
