From the need to take bold decisions, including making an early entry into the biological products segment, to pushing for greater “acceptability” of Indian medicines in the domestic market – founders and promoter-family members from top domestic drugmakers recounted from their own experiences, at the launch of “Made in India”, the story of Lupin’s late founder DB Gupta and the Indian pharmaceutical industry.
With biological products projected to be large part of the industry’s future growth, Dilip Shanghvi, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ Founder and Executive Chairman, reflected, they should have got into the segment earlier. The company should have also hired expertise, rather than train on the job, he said, addressing a full-house at the book launch on Sunday evening.
Recollecting the early days -with two medical representatives in the company, including himself, Shanghvi said, domestic drugmakers have since grown to compete globally. All it takes is one success to give courage to others to walk that path, he said, pointing to Glenmark’s recent $ 700 million outlicensing deal on its cancer drug candidate. Companies need to find a way to continue to compete globally, he said, including through buying a company outside. In fact, Sun Pharma is in the news, reportedly scouting for a major international acquisition.
Cipla doyen Dr YK Hamied, pointed out, that top domestic drugmakers invested between 6-8 percent of their revenues in research and development, and called for greater acceptability of locally made products among the Indian medical fraternity. The industry should put their heads together, he said, to address moving forward on innovation. As a scientist, he was not against patents, only monopolies, said Hamied, something the domestic industry protested in the 1970s, following which product patents had been removed. The Patents Act has since been amended (2005) to bring back products patents.
Future research by companies, he said, would largely be in partnership with government institutions like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) or Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), as it may be difficult for local drug companies to go it alone on research, with exceptions like Sun Pharma or Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL).
GV Prasad, DRL’s Co-Chairman & Managing Director, echoed Shanghvi’s thoughts on taking bold decisions and hiring talent from outside. The best kind of risk to take were those that were “manageable” if they were bad bets, or game changers, if they came good, he said. Vinita Gupta, Lupin Chief Executive Officer, and part of the promoter family, observed that the industry was a “tough” one to be in, and Indian drugmakers were looking to innovate differently on products.
Reflecting on DBG, as industry peers called DB Gupta, Lupin Managing Director Nilesh Gupta pointed to his father’s role in building Lupin, and as a co-creator of the pharmaceutical industry, as it is today. While DBG “wore his success lightly”, hailing from a village in Rajasthan, his children grew up with “performance reviews”, not career-counselling, recounted Nilesh. Lupin Chairperson (Non-executive) Manju D Gupta recalled DBG’s encouragement of women’s participation in the business, ahead of its time.
Making an interesting observation, MM Sharma, formerly with University Department of Chemical Technology, pointed out, the Indian pharmaceutical industry had grown on the back of technocrat entrepreneurs and not established business houses.
Published on February 9, 2026
