How Maheshwari Pharmaceuticals found itself in the spotlight right during the pandemic

At a time when not too many people were aware of the benefits of Ayurveda, Maheshwari Pharmaceutical India Ltd (MPIL) made that its core ingredient — a risk that paid off. Today, it is a brand so trusted that it has partnered with the Government of India to counter COVID-19.

MPIL was launched by R P Maheshwari in 1995 with only pharmaceutical products and one manufacturing plant. But the team soon felt the need to experiment with the ancient art of Ayurveda to bring a difference in their products. In an attempt to make people aware of the benefits of Ayurveda, what started as a marketing team of five has now grown into 300. “With time, everything must evolve and we are also constantly evolving. We are venturing into wellness currently,” says Nikhil Maheshwari, Director of Operations at MPIL Wellness, speaking at The Success Edition, an initiative by Kotak Mahindra Bank and YourStory. “When I joined the business as a third generation entrepreneur, I wanted to target products that can make a difference,” he added.

It was this need to evolve that made the team transition towards the nutritional supplement market. Nikhil says he wanted to move away from just medicines to products that enrich life and can be added to a person’s daily routine. They started off by building a protein powder, infused with ayurvedic ingredients; but with a difference. The team observed that most protein powders have the tendency to make the user feel bloated and heavy after consumption. So MPIL added ayurvedic herbs in their formula that made digestion easy. This isn’t just the case for one product, each of the products have a story. Each of them have painstaking R&D rooted in their success. “The way we manufacture medicines matters to us. We manufacture with 100 percent consistency and purity. There is no adulteration involved,” he says.

But things really changed for MPIL when a new government was sworn in, in 2014. The current government came with a Ministry for Ayush which was a boost to their sales. In the past six years, the team witnessed more than 100 percent increment in their net turn around. As demand increased, so did the need to advertise. Nikhil says, “We wanted to capitalise on the situation. That’s when Kotak Mahindra Bank came into the picture. They extended our term loan for five-six years that helped us with our advertising expenses. Kotak Mahindra Bank came as a savior in that time.”

This financial boost helped the team to continue innovating and creating new products. Even as the country came to a screeching halt during the pandemic, MPIL’s manufacturing plant continued operations. “We had orders from the government related to COVID-19 medicines,” he says. Enquiry for their products increased and in some cases, patients were treated with it.

But even then, financial planning and strategy plays a big part in the journey. “You must explore all dimensions. Because only you can foresee the returns you get on investments,” Nikhil advises.

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_{The views expressed by the speaker in this video are personal. This video is for information purposes only.}