A global pharma empire built out of Pune

Pune-based Emcure Pharma has built a presence in 70 countries since 1981. The promoters continue to own 86 percent equity in the Bain Capital-backed firm. Founder Satish Mehta traces the four-decade journey of the homegrown pharma major.

Friday August 20, 2021 , 4 min Read

Good Morning,

Second-generation entrepreneur Satish Mehta started Emcure Pharmaceuticals decades before ‘Made in India’ or ‘Build in India’ became catchphrases. Driven by the urge to do something on his own, he took a bank loan of Rs 3 lakh and launched Emcure in 1981.

The Pune-based firm went on to develop and sell its own branded generic formulations across 70 countries, and become one of the leading companies in the sector.

In a conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, he says, “Data says we are amongst the top 10 [pharma companies in India]. But, I'm not happy. I would like to take the company to the top five. That’s the driving force.”

The Emcure MD goes on to say,

“This year, we will do Rs 7,000 crore [of business], but at the same time, you think ‘somebody is doing Rs 30,000 crore’. There is always a desire to do better than what you've done yesterday.”

emcure pharma — *Emcure Pharma Founder & MD* ***Satish Mehta*** *in conversation with YourStory Founder and CEO* ***Shradha Sharma***

Over the last 40 years, Emcure has built a network of 19 subsidiaries, an R&D team of 500 scientists, and a global workforce of 11,000 people. Its lifetime revenues are touching Rs 7,000 crore, with only 44 percent of it coming from the domestic market.

Turning a Rs 3 lakh investment into a billion-dollar enterprise sure required a lot of chutzpah. Add to that, Satish’s own swelling fortune.

In 2016, Satish was ranked as the 82nd richest Indian with a net worth of $1.6 billion, on the Forbes Rich List.

Having registered a 15 percent topline growth in H1 2021, Emcure now is gearing up for a Rs 4,000 crore IPO, and is betting big on mRNA vaccines for COVID-19.

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