Mr. Ajay Piramal
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Following above you will read today success story of Mr.Mr. Ajay Piramal :
Mr. Ajay Piramal is a well known Indian businessman and the chairman of Piramal Enterprises Limited. After facing myriad troubles in life he proved himself as a phoenix. Mr. Ajay Piramal’s story is of a remarkable business transformation, from textile magnet to becoming India’s 4th largest pharmaceutical manufactures. Today, he is the chairman of Rs 400 billion group, comprising Nicholas Piramal, the fourth-largest pharmaceutical company in India, Morarajee Weaving and Spinning and Gujarat Glass.
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Mr. Ajay Piramal was born on 20 December, 1955. He completed his Graduation in Bachelor of Science from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. He has also done his post graduation from the same college.
Mr. Ajay Piramal was 29 when his hard working father died suddenly in New York. His brother Ashok took over the family business, but the cloud of grief was not yet off. Five years later his brother too died, leaving behind his young widow, Urvi, with three children aged less than 10 years. Just before that, his other brother Dilip had decided to separate his business. Meanwhile, a year-long textile strike dealt a crippling blow to the textile industry and Morarjee Mills, the group's main business venture then, was in dark.
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Despite, having faced so much of sorrow and troubles Mr. Ajay Piramal never had a sense of despair. Life looked bleak to him when he became chairman of the group at the age of 29. But he survived and how. From owning what was then an almost defunct textile company, Piramal today is the chairman of Rs 40 billion group, comprising Nicholas Piramal, the fourth-largest pharmaceutical company in India, Morarajee Weaving and Spinning and Gujarat Glass. Piramal is also the chairman of the group's retail operations, which are now looked after by his nephew, son of Urvi Piramal. "Disabilities and misfortune can make you stronger," Mr. Piramal says, “The Lord must be pleased, indeed.”
In 1988, he heard from a friend that Nicholas Laboratories, an Australian MNC that was exiting India, is up for sale. There were many large suitors but Piramal decided to meet Mike Barker, the man in charge of selling the company, and told him that he had no track record, was only 33 but was confident of achieving his dream of putting Nicholas among the top five pharmacy companies in India (from 48th at that time). Barker laughed with disbelief but he could see the spark in Mr. Ajay Piramal’s eyes and decided to sell the company to him after hearing out the "young and untried entrepreneur's" turnaround plan. At that time it wasn’t a very large investment, the total market capitalisation of Nicholas Laboratories was Rs 5-6 crore. The investment was not very large. So nobody thought that it could be significant portion of Piramals business other than Mr. Ajay Piramal.
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Not Many people know that the first shopping mall in India -”Crossroad” is a brainchild of Mr. Ajay Piramal. His company had a large factory in the centre of Mumbai and if he wanted to expand, civic permission was impossible to get. The cost of manufacturing too was one of the highest in India. The three factory buildings of the pharmaceutical company were converted into retail space with the help of architects from Singapore. On the opening day, cars lined up for miles and the McDonald's ice-cream shop in the mall sold more cones in a day at the Crossroads than in any other store in Asia.
Ajay Piramal started with textiles and today, his Rs 9 billion Piramal Enterprises comprises pharmaceutical firms placed among India's top 5. He talks passionately about how he diversified from textiles to a totally unrelated area like pharmaceuticals, "Manufacturing is finite but human intellect is infinite. Textile is all about manufacturing and industries like pharmaceuticals are all about human intellect," Mr. Piramal says.
The influence of the Lord is omnipresent. So is evident in his life and in his office too. The office walls have inscriptions from the Bhagavad Gita. Zen-style sculptures of the 18 verses in pure black granite rock, billions of years old; from near the ancient city of Hampi has also been given a separate place. “Bhagavad Gita is one of the greatest management books as it prescribes optimism and freedom from stress” says Mr. Ajay Piramal.
Mr. Ajay Piramal has a deep sense of concern for India. His take on government’s role in the current scenario of liberalisation clearly put forth his intellectual and sharp mind. "Many people say that in a liberalised world there is little for the government to do, but the fact is that there is much for the government to do in fewer areas. One such area is to provide infrastructure," he said. To give an example, he spoke of the internet "Today people should be able to access the Internet easily, which can help us bridge the gap with the developed world. The key task before us is how do we catch up with the developed world? The Internet can bring us much closer to the developed world. But the government is not providing the necessary infrastructure."
According to Mr. Ajay Piramal, today India doesn’t only lack a stable government. It rather lacks Leadership. He has a very clear cut idea about the same. To him leadership is more than just managing economic reforms it means giving broad direction, take up challenges which other people cannot do.
He feels that Indian companies might buckle up under the threat of foreigners. Indian companies have created a first-class distribution network in the country which outsiders will find difficult to break. He quotes an instance, “no major petrochemical company has come in because Reliance has such a wonderful distribution network. So we are not worried about any multinational company coming in; I am sure we can take on them, or for that matter, so can Ranbaxy." Mr. Ajay Piramal has truly experienced the same. The Swiss giant, was unable to introduce any drug in India for 16 years, and finally sold its Indian wing to Mr. Ajay Piramal. After that, Roche under Piramal has introduced six new products.
Mr. Ajay Piramal has seen myriad phases of life. He has come out of such miserable conditions which is not easy for anyone. Today, when People find him in Forbes ranking #7 among richest Indians they look up at him as idol. But very know about the hardship he has faced and how he has come up. He is truly a motivational personality for many.
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