Ajay Piramal
| Ajay Piramal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
3 August 1955 Rajasthan, India |
| Residence | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | University of Mumbai |
| Occupation | Chairman of Piramal Group |
| Net worth | $1.6 billion (2013)[1] |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Spouse(s) | Swati Piramal |
| Children |
Anand Piramal Nandini Piramal |
Ajay Piramal is an Indian businessman. In 2010, Forbes estimated his net worth to be US $1.0 Billion making him one of India’s Top 50 richest people.[2] He leads the Piramal Group, a diversified conglomerate with a presence across 100 countries.[3] Under his leadership the Piramal Group evolved from a textile centric business to a USD 2 billion conglomerate with diversified business interests across pharmaceuticals, packaging, financial services and real estate.
In 1988, he bought Nicholas Laboratories, an Australian multinational corporation. The company is now ranked in one of top 10 pharma companies, having made a string of overseas acquisitions like the Indian subsidiaries of Roche, Boehringer Mannheim, Rhone Poulenc, ICI and Hoechst Research Centre. India`s first major shopping mall, Crossroads was developed from three redundant Piramal factory buildings in Mumbai.[4]
Ajay Piramal led Piramal Enterprises Ltd agreed to buy a 5.5% stake in Vodafone India for Rs. 30.07 billion ($618 million), taking the total stake of the cash-rich drug manufacturer in the mobile telecom firm to 11%.[5][6]
Piramal sits on the board of Directors of Piramal Enterprises Ltd, Piramal Life Sciences Limited, Piramal Glass Ltd., Allergan India Limited, Indiareit Fund Advisors Pvt Ltd., IndiaVenture Advisors Pvt Ltd. and Piramal Sunteck Realty Pvt Ltd.
He is Chairman of Pratham, which is the largest non-governmental organisation in the education sector in India, and reaches out to 33 million children through its "Read India" campaign.[7]
Positions held in the past
- Member, Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Task Force on Pharmaceuticals & Knowledge-Based Industries constituted by the Government of India.
- Member, Hon’ble Prime Minister's Council for Trade & Industry.[9]
- Member, Board of Trade Constituted by the Ministry of Commerce.[10]
- Member, Central board of directors of State Bank of India – India's largest commercial bank and is included in the "Fortune 500" companies;[11]
- Mr. Piramal has been attending the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) by invitation over the last one decade. He was a Member of the World Economic Forum's Governors’ Forum on Healthcare. He has often addressed at the WEF on various topics.[12][13]
- Member of National Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which is one of the largest industry associations in India.[11]
- Former Chairman of the Drugs and Pharmaceutical Council of CII. (2004 to 2009)[14]
- Spokesperson of ‘Help Your Body’, a nationwide public health campaign against chronic disease, launched by former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, in August 2008.[15]
Awards received
- “CEO of the Year Award” by World Strategy Forum in 1999; Rotary International (District 3140) Certificate of Appreciation and “Four Way Test Award” in 2001.[16]
- Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year (2004) in the Healthcare & Life Sciences category[17]
- Awarded "Entrepreneur of the Year" Award of UK Trade & Investment Council (2006)[18]
- Kriyasheel global achievers award in 2010.[16]
- Ajay Piramal has been nominated for the Forbes Philanthropy Awards 2013 in the Outstanding Philanthropist category. [21]
Academics
[22] Piramal holds B.Sc. (Hons.), Masters in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School, USA. He is an honours graduate in Science from Bombay University.
Interests
In his spare time, Piramal likes to indulge in his passion for wildlife photography.[23] He has also co-authored 'Light has come to me', a book about management lessons inspired from The Bhagwad Gita, published by the Times Group.[24] He has also written a dance opera, ‘The Dance of Life’, which pre¬miered in Mumbai in 2004, with stories inspired by the history of Indian science starring Mrinalini Sarabhai and Mallika Sarabhai.[25]
References
- ↑ "The World's Billionaires: Ajay Piramal". Forbes.
- ↑ "India's Richest". Forbes.com. 18 November 2009.
- ↑ "Bharti Enterprises in talks with Piramal Group, 2 others to sell stake in insurance JVs with AXA". Contify.
- ↑ "Business Leaders: Ajay Piramal Bio". Connect.in.com.
- ↑ "Piramal Group picks up an additional 5.5% stake in Vodafone India for Rs 3007 cr". The Economic Times. 4 February 2012.
- ↑ "Piramal to hike additional 5.5% stake in Vodafone India". Business Standard.
- ↑ "PIRAMAL HEALTHCARE LTD (PIHC:Natl India)". Bloomberg Businessweek.
- ↑ "Smith & Nephew Names Ajay Piramal As Non-Executive Director". Research Views.
- ↑ "Ajay Piramal". India Business Forum.
- ↑ "Director Profiles". DB Corp Ltd.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "2005 summit on Indian Manufacturing Competitiveness". ISB.
- ↑ "Indian presence to be prominent at Davos: Yashwant Sinha to lead Indian delegation to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum". Reach-out Business Network. January 2001.
- ↑ "Davos: Where The (Big) Money Is". World News Daily.
- ↑ "Who We Interviewed". The India Way.
- ↑ "Ajay Piramal joins Smith & Nephew Board as Non-Executive Director" (Press release). smith&nephew.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "People & Partners: Ajay Piramal". TiE Entrepreneurial Summit.
- ↑ "Top Indian Business People: Ajay Piramal". Campus Recruitments.
- ↑ "Piramal Healthcare Limited: Awards / Recognition". Indiamart.
- ↑ "Piramal Glass Ltd". The Ft India App.
- ↑ "Piramal Glass Ltd (PRML.NS)". Reuters.
- ↑ "Philanthropy Awards 2013". Forbes. 2013.
- ↑ "Ajay Piramal: A Profile". mingleBox.
- ↑ "Meet Mr. Right Timing: Ajay Piramal". The Economic Times. 22 May 2010.
- ↑ "Nicholas Piramal's World View". PharmaManufacturing.com.
- ↑ "Dr. Swati A. Piramal". Indian Oil.