"We need money, we need investment but we can't let them rule us," Vijay Shekhar Sharma said.
India is in no way the third world when it comes to digital world and should not allow "colonisation of the internet", Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of paytm - which is among the six unicorn startups chosen Indian of the Year 2015 by NDTV - said on Tuesday night.
Making a strong case for net neutrality, Mr Sharma said, "We can't allow those who have ruled us for long to colonise our Internet. We are completely capable and savvy to decide our own fate," he said. "This is the digital freedom we need...We need money, we need investment but we can't let them rule us," he said when asked about his opposition to Facebook's Free Basics that allows access to a limited number of sites free of cost.
Speaking on paytm, that allows payment using a cellphone, Mr Sharma said, "In our country , even having a savings bank account is considered a privilege, this is what we want to change at paytm."
"Currency notes came a long time ago and the time has come that the smart phone can change the way we pay... Every month more than 60 million times we prove that currency is not the better way to pay but the smartphone is. Hopefully, one day this country's billion people will belong to our platform," he said.
On his personal journey as an entrepreneur, the paytm founder said he is the first businessman in his family and even his mother thought he was venturing into business because he couldn't get a job. "I come from a family where nobody has been in business, I was the black sheep," he said, setting off a wave of laughter among the audience at the awards. The six unicorn startups chosen for the awards have crossed the One billion US dollar evaluation mark.