Imagine Paytm minus Alibaba

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Editor's note: Exactly three years ago, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, on being asked about digital payments company’s funding plans in an interview with BloombergQuint, proudly said, “Mere paas ma hai, Jack Ma”, referring to the founder of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group. Today, Sharma is trying everything to erase his company’s China connection from the memory of Indians as well as regulators. With anti-China sentiment at an all-time high in India since border clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers in June and the suspension of Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial’s much-anticipated $37 billion initial public offering in China, things aren’t quite so rosy for Paytm. It’s already been a year since its last funding round—and going by the company’s last fundraising pattern over the past five years, this may be the time for Sharma to start pitching for a new round. It is quite likely he may have already started. Except, what if Alibaba—or rather, Ant—says no to putting in any more money? What if Alibaba says it is done, and Paytm must now fend for itself? Who then? Ant Financial, in …