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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm’s founder and CEO, has offered a personal starting cheque of ₹1–2 crore to founders building their own AI models, according to Analytics India Magazine’s report from Cypher 2026 in Bengaluru. The offer is Sharma’s, not a Paytm corporate funding commitment; the report says he could raise it if enough serious builders came forward.
What Sharma offered at Cypher 2026
Analytics India Magazine reported on October 7, 2026, that Sharma made the offer at the Bengaluru event. He said he was prepared to fund founders personally and also offered Paytm’s distribution network to help them put products in front of users. The report does not identify recipients, investment terms, or whether anyone accepted the offer.
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Sharma’s reported invitation was direct: “Either come over, join us, or build your own and take money from me,” he said, according to the publication. The report describes this as an initial personal cheque of ₹1–2 crore, with the possibility of a larger amount if enough serious builders committed. It does not establish a standing fund or an open application process.
Why he wants India to build models
Sharma’s case is that India should own and develop some of the AI technology beneath products, rather than rely only on applications built on models developed elsewhere. He asked, “Why should we stay as the IT services capital of the world? Why shouldn’t we build the systems and technology for the world?” as quoted by Analytics India Magazine.
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That argument is not a call to stop using overseas models. The report says Sharma accepts that India cannot build frontier models alone and does not propose abandoning foreign models; he wants India to have multiple models of its own as well. The strategic distinction is between doing useful application-layer work and also building domestic capability deeper in the technology stack.
Sharma’s cost estimate and Paytm examples
Sharma reportedly estimated that building an AI model could cost less than $100 million, approximately ₹964 crore. That is his estimate as quoted by Analytics India Magazine, not a verified general cost for developing models of any size or capability. The report says he pointed to China’s approach of distilling and retraining models, but provides no independent cost study or benchmark to validate his estimate.
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To illustrate work Paytm has done, Sharma cited internally developed risk engines and fraud systems. He also described an Indian-language model that Paytm optimized from 200 billion to 4 billion parameters and runs on its own machines. These are reported descriptions attributed to Sharma; the publication’s account does not provide independent technical benchmarks or performance results for them.
The report additionally mentions Paytm’s AI Soundbox, which it says answers merchants in 11 Indian languages, and Paytm Intelligence, described as a business able to deploy agents across sales, customer service, and operations. They are examples in Sharma’s broader argument, not independently assessed product recommendations.
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- AI NPU with XDNA 2 ARCHITECTURE - Powered by 16 “Zen 5” CPU cores, 50+ peak AI TOPS XDNA 2 NPU and a truly massive integrated GPU driven by 40 AMD RDNA 3.5 CUs, the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 is a transformative upgrade and delivers a significant performance boost over the competition. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 excels in consumer AI workloads like the llama.cpp-powered application: LM Studio. Shaping up to be the must-have app for client LLM workloads, LM Studio allows users to locally run the latest language model without any technical knowledge required and unleash their creativity and productivity.
- AMD RADEON 8090S iGPU GAMING PC - The AMD Radeon RX 8060S offers all 40 CUs with up to 2.9 GHz graphics clock and uses the new RDNA 3.5 architecture. The powerful iGPU is positioned between an RTX 4060 and 4070 laptop GPU and therefore enables gaming in FHD at maximum details in most demanding games. The 8060S can also utilize the full 128GB pool, which is perfect for running LLMs such as Deepseek 70B Q8, which runs comfortably on this machine.
- EIGHT CHANNEL LPDDR5X - LPDDR5X is a new ground breaking memory small form factor installed on-board. With blazing speeds up to to 8000MT/s, it runs 1.5x faster than the DDR5 SODIMMs; 90% better performance over DDR5 SODIMMs in video conferencing and photo editing; 30% better performance in productivity apps; 12% better performance in digital content workloads.
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What the offer does—and does not—mean for founders
For founders, the announcement signals Sharma’s willingness to consider backing model builders and to make Paytm’s distribution available, according to the report. It does not, by itself, establish an investment program with published eligibility rules, a guaranteed cheque, or a confirmed route to Paytm users. Those details, along with any increase in the amount, remain unreported.
Sharma summarized his appeal to ambition by saying, “The problem is we’re unambitious,” and, “The ambitious guy commits to it and does not let it go,” according to Analytics India Magazine. The central proposal is therefore both financial and strategic: encourage builders to pursue Indian-owned AI models while continuing to use technology developed abroad where it makes sense.
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