Paytm is not Chinese entity, netizens back fintech firm

NEW DELHI: Netizens including top venture capitalists came together in support of India’s financial services company Paytm after trolls attacked it for having investments from a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

‘Paytm is Indian’ was one of the top trends on Twitter and Google on Tuesday.

The Noida-based firm has been the target of trolls ever since the tensions in Galwan valley led to the unfortunate death of Indian soldiers and the ensuing tensions with China. After India issued direction to block 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, trolls on Tuesday started demanding the banning of Paytm in India.

Trolls started questioning why the government did not ban Paytm which has Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, as an investor in the firm.

However, netizens soon came to the rescue of the Indian financial services major. “Paytm is Indian company that has quietly been feeding millions of daily labours amidst lockdown & providing employment to Indians. Nobody is highlighting that! Paytm Is Indian,” (sic) tweeted Ramesh Bala. Some even took on Congress leader and Tamil Nadu MP Manickam Tagore who called upon the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban e-commerce mobile application Paytm, stating it has ‘massive Chinese investments’.

But, he was quickly countered by Twitterati who pointed out the obvious that owning shares of the company and the country of origin of a firm are two different things.

“Paytm is not a Chinese Company, Company origin and Company shares are different!” tweeted one user. Venture capitalist Anand Lunia in a series of tweets cleared all misconceptions about Paytm and others being trolled over funds from Chinese investors. “Paytm, Zomato, etc are all Indian cos. They have to follow Indian laws by being present here as a legal entity,” (sic) he tweeted.