A global pharma empire built out of Pune

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.”

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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News & Updates

• Avendus announced the first close of Rs 584 crore for Avendus Future Leader Fund II. With this fund, the investment banking firm looks to back matured companies and startups operating in financial services, digital and consumption sectors.

• Over the next six months, hospitality unicorn OYO will be hiring more than 300 technology professionals, including software developers, engineers, product managers, designers, and data scientists across entry-level to senior leadership roles.

• The voice of Indian film industry icon Amitabh Bachchan will now be available on Amazon Alexa. Amazon Alexa users can choose to add Amitabh Bachchan’s voice to the Echo devices and will be available at a price of Rs 149 per year.

• Capital Float and Razorpay have partnered to extend 'buy now, pay later' solutions to over one lakh online businesses in India, via the former's Walnut 369 solution.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“I’ve never felt that I'm the owner of the company. I come here as the chief executive, as the first among equals.”

— Satish Mehta, Founder and MD, Emcure Pharma

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