Anji Reddy
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DRL founder Anji Reddy dies at 72
From the archives of The Times of India
TIMES NEWS NETWORK : March 16, 2013
Dr Anji Reddy, one of the creators of the modern drug industry in India, passed away on Friday evening after unsuccessfully battling cancer just two days after he had finished penning his autobiography. He leaves behind a $2 billion-plus business that he built from scratch — with an initial investment of Rs 25 lakh. This was after chucking his job in the public sector Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals. Incidentally, in his last days, he had transferred his stake in Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) to his family trust, triggering speculation about his health status. Dr Reddy was72 yearsold. Starting out with a company making copycat versions of expensive patented drugs sold by multinational drug companies, Dr Reddy went on to transform DRL into India’s first pharma company focused on innovative drug discovery in theearly 1990s.Today,DRLis known as a global pharma player that supplies affordable drugs to global markets. “Bhai Mohan Singh of Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy were the guys who changed the face of India’s drug industry by making cheap drugs by a little change of process and giving the MNCs, who were importing expensive medicines, a run for their money,” saysDr KLahiri, former MDof TTKChemicals, who has known Dr Reddy since1974. Incidentally, DRL — set up in 1984 — was not Dr Reddy’s first entrepreneurial venture. Hisfirstbusinessesweresetup with partners: Uniloids set up in 1976, followed by Standard Organics in 1980. But the turmeric farmer’s son from Guntur district, who had completed a PhD from the Pune-based National Chemical Laboratory, was hell bent on making a mark in business without being encumberedby interfering partners andfinally tastedsuccess with DRL. “He was a pioneer. Not only did he provide affordable medicines in India but also took a shot at the US market with generics. He also built a world class institution in just 29 years and headed the first Indian pharma company to raise money from NYSE,” says V S Vasudevan, former CFOof DRL. Although he built a huge empire, research remained a prime passion of Dr Reddy till hislastdays andhecouldbeoften seen working in his personal lab in the company’s R&D unit.He is survived in his business by his son Satish Reddy, who is the managing director and COO of DRL and son-inlaw G V Prasad who functions asthe vice-chairman andCEO. Insiders said that since Dr Reddy had been unwell for some time, he had passed on theday-to-day activitiesofDRL to his son-in-law and son, which is why there may be no transition pangs. Nevertheless,thereisconsiderablecuriosity in the market about who willdon the mantleof theDRL chairman now.
