In the mid-1970s, a medical student at the University of Mumbaiwas driving in the city's Parel mill district, when she saw a girl,about four years old, hobbling on tiny crutches. The child hadpolio. The future Dr Swati Piramal, then all of 19 years old,decided to fight this preventable yet widespread disease. Today, thequiet resolve that drove her to choose - and win - this battle helpsher run one of the country's top five pharmaceutical companies.
Battling polio in the crannies of working-class Mumbai was afight that took not only medical expertise but organising skills.'The polio-afflicted children in the area were from mill workers'families,' says Piramal. Her goal was to establish a 'no poliozone'. She and her medical school friends set up a polio centre. Inthe first year, they treated 25,000 children. To convince localresidents to get their children immunised, Piramal and her friendsliterally resorted to song and dance - they performed street playsabout polio prevention. They also went door to door, educatingfamilies. They treated children, mostly for free. Ten years later,everyone in the area who needed vaccination or treatment hadreceived it, so they closed the centre.
Swati Piramal, who followed up her MBBS with a Master's in PublicHealth from Harvard University, is now Director, Strategic Alliancesand Communications, Piramal Healthcare. Her company headquarters arein Parel, but her vast office, with works by M.F. Husain on thewalls, is a far cry from the workers' tenements where she spent muchof her student days. Her conversation is peppered with optimism andquotes from the Upanishads.
'Whatever you dream, you can do,' she says. 'At every step, it isyour effort. If you just wait for things to happen, they won't.' Sheand her husband Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Healthcare, builtthe company against the odds. The Piramals were textile industryveterans, but the 1982 mill strike crippled the business. 'It hadbeen our family business for over 100 years,' she says. As if thatwas not enough, Piramal's father-in-law died soon afterwards, andher brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer.
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH
Strategic alliances was a new portfolio and a challenge for me.We have tie-ups with many global companies
BUSINESSPERSON I ADMIRE THE MOST
My husband, Ajay Piramal
PRICE I PAID TO BE HERE
Not enough time to do what I enjoy: read, cook up a gourmet meal,take holidays
BIGGEST ADVANTAGE OF BEING AN MPW
The network of strong women with diverse interests
LAST TIME I USED MY MPW TRUMP CARD
As the first woman head of ASSOCHAM, I had to present views onthe economy to the Reserve Bank. I roped in four MPW bankers. Theirviews were appreciated
Her husband, then just 29, was made group chairman. 'Everybodysaid: 'You are too young',' she says. 'But I told him: 'You can doit. We can do it.'' The couple steadied the business and brought itback on track. 'It was a hard journey,' says Piramal.
The couple knew nothing about the pharmaceutical business whenthey decided in 1988 to bid for Nicholas Laboratories, an Australianmultinational that was exiting India. Piramal was just 28 at thetime, and her husband was 33. Their move was a bold step at adifficult time. When they met Mike Barker of Nicholas Laboratoriesand told him of their dream to make the company one of the top fivein Indian pharma, he laughed in disbelief. Nicholas Laboratories wasranked 48th in the Indian industry at the time. Barker sold them thecompany for Rs16.5 crore. A decade later, the Piramals went to seehim with the company's annual report, which showed that the companyhad indeed reached the fifth spot.
Piramal has a deceptively self-effacing manner and plays down herrole in running the company. Asked whether she was behind thegroup's bold move into pharmaceuticals, she says with a laugh: 'Myfamily often says so.' She credits her husband for his clear vision,and the goal of taking the company to the top five. Then, shequietly adds: 'With my husband and me, it is very hard to say whodid what.'
Today, even as grandparents, the Piramals remain the archetypalbusiness couple, working tirelessly to make Piramal Healthcarebigger and stronger. Their company employs hundreds of scientists,and manufactures not only in India but also in Britain and the US.
In the 23 years since the Piramals decided to buy NicholasLaboratories, there have been many mergers, acquisitions andspinoffs. Piramal Healthcare recently announced that it will buy a5.5 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar for around Rs2,890 crore. Themoney for this would come from the May 2010 sale of its brandedgenerics business to Abbott Laboratories, an American company, forRs17,140 crore. The sale to Abbott was followed by another one ofPiramal Healthcare's diagnostics business to Super Religare forRs600 crore.
The swiftness of Piramal's decision in 1998 to acquire a researchcentre in Mumbai from Hoechst Marion Roussel, a subsidiary of theGerman drug maker Hoechst, attests to her role in the company. Shegot a call asking whether her company was interested in buying theresearch centre. Her decision was made in minutes, after a quickconsultation with her husband. The centre's 400 scientists areworking on 18 molecules in various stages of development.
If her husband is the 'the man with the vision', as Piramal putsit, she is the one who asks the tough questions that bring clarityto important decisions. 'She is straightforward and simple,' hesays. Piramal is a driven businesswoman. 'Even at home, we talkabout what we can do to grow,' she says. 'I like to invite clientshome, as I can make them feel welcome. Home is a good place to dobusiness.'
