60 | ASIA ONE | JULY-AUGUST 2018
Ashok Piramal and Mr. Dilip Piramal) inherited the
struggling company two years later after the untimely
and sudden demise of their father, and then expanded
after acquiring a tool manufacturer firm called Miranda
Tools. However, when the textile industry began to
shrink, Mr. Dilip Piramal spun off a plastics division
namely Blow Plast VIP Industries, while he and Mr.
Ashok Piramal stayed on with textiles. He further
received a personal setback when the latter too passed
away after a fight with cancer.
Talking about those tough times, Mr. Piramal connotes
to his favourite story, ‘The Footprints on the Sands of
Time’ and reflects an optimistic bent of mind, when he
says, “Life looked bleak when I became chairman of
the group at the age of 29. But I survived as the Lord
must have carried me when I needed Him the most.”
Though this business did not taste success, it gave Mr.
Ajay Piramal a valuable lesson on the fluidity and flux of
business ownership — something he employed later to
his advantage.
DIVERSIFICATION & ACQUISITIONS — THE KEYS TO
SUCCESS
The Piramal Group’s diverse business ventures seem to
be an encyclopedia of important economic industries:
real estate, pharmaceuticals, financial services, glass
production and others. Mr. Piramal established his
empire by having a thorough understanding of the
bigger picture of India’s investment scenario, and
through smartly planned mergers and acquisitions
rather than by understanding each industry deeply. His
first acquisition was a company called Gujarat Glass in
the year 1984. Four years later, he acquired his most
profitable business, a pharmaceutical company called
Nicholas Laboratories Ltd, which he eventually sold to
the U.S.-based Abbott Laboratories in 2010 for $3.72
billion. Transactions like these justified his faith in the
economic potential of his country, as he puts it: “In the
late 1980s, when we entered the pharmaceutical sector,
the view of multinationals — pharmaceutical companies
that had been operating in India for more than 50 years
— was that India wasn’t a great place to be because
there were price controls and there was limited patent
protection ... Nobody was interested in the industry, and
the multinationals wanted to get out. No one in India
wanted to acquire this type of business.” He further
elaborates, “We saw a huge opportunity. The market
was growing. The penetration of modern medicine was
still limited. There were lots of new doctors coming in, and
treatments were required. That’s why we entered into the
pharma space then.” He feels that it is very important to
eye the unseen opportunity beforehand and take timely
decisions, “One just has to understand the basics. I think
sometimes we can’t see the wood for the trees.”
In this way, Mr. Piramal has followed a growth trajectory
similar to the renowned Berkshire Hathaway Chairman
Mr. Warren Buffett, who built his investment empire
through the simple principle of “buy low, sell high.” He
attributes his ability to grow in the right ways and into the
right places to keen business acumen, as well as through
acquiring and developing new businesses by relying on
value investing. His pharmaceutical empire was built by“MY FATHER WAS QUITE A SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESSMAN, BUT HE NEVER GAVE THE
IMPRESSION THAT HE WAS SUCCESSFUL.
HE WAS VERY HUMBLE, AND THAT’S HOW
I’VE GROWN UP. TO SOME EXTENT, THAT
ENVIRONMENT SHAPED ME”
buying a string of smaller companies cheaply when
multinationals were leery of what they saw was a limited
market and thus, were selling them. In the late 2000’s
Mr. Piramal made acquisitions overseas when India’s
currency was at its strongest, and chased underplayed
sectors — like life-science research and anesthetic
gas distribution — while others pursued more popular
investment opportunities in spheres like infrastructure
and real estate.A TRUE MENTOR
Mr. Piramal leaves no stone unturned in reposing faith
in the young generation. He asserts, “The way we’ve
attracted talent is by giving people the opportunity
to be true entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is giving
senior people — and even young people — far more
responsibility than they’ve ever expected. We always
give them more responsibility than their role calls for.”
As a person who is not afraid of mistakes, he allows
others the rooms, “We also give them the freedom to
act, the freedom to make mistakes. We have a bias for
action. As long as you don’t make mistakes too often,
it’s fine. All of us make mistakes.”INHERITING WISDOM
A down to earth personality, Mr. Piramal knows the2017-18
PERSON OF THE YEAR
AJAY PIRAMAL