Ajay G. Piramal

Mr. Ajay G. Piramal is the Chairman of Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. He envisions making his company the most admired in the Indian pharmaceutical industry, in the eyes of all its stakeholders - customers, shareholders, employees, and the society.

Mr. Piramal also heads Piramal Enterprises, a Rs. 3,500 crore conglomerate with interests in textiles, retailing and engineering, besides pharmaceuticals. The flagship company, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. (NPIL), is the fourth largest pharmaceutical player in India with an annual turnover of US $ 250 million. It all began with the acquisition of the US$ 4 million Nicholas Laboratories from Sara Lee in 1988. NPIL has registered dramatic growth over the last 15 years through a string of acquisitions that include the Indian subsidiaries of MNCs like Roche, Boehringer Mannheim, Rhone Poulenc, and Hoechst Marion Roussel (research division), and the pharmaceutical division of ICI India Limited. NPIL has embarked on a focused R&D programme in a world-class facility in Mumbai in the areas of NCE (new chemical entity), NDDS (new drug delivery system) and process development. NPIL has filed its first patent for its own NCE - an anti-cancer molecule NP102 - in India and the USA.

NPIL also has successful joint ventures/alliances with world-leaders like Boots, Allergan, Hoffmann-La Roche and Aventis. NPIL, with its joint ventures, has an annual turnover of over US$ 350 million, making it one of largest pharmaceutical groups in India.

The Group owns a profitable retail business (Pyramid Megastore) that is on the threshold of exciting growth. Gujarat Glass Pvt. Ltd., another group company, runs a successful export business and is actively looking to step up its presence in the US market. Morarjee Brembana (JV) and Morarjee Castiglioni (JV) represent the group's textile ventures.

Mr. Piramal holds/has held several positions of eminence in Indian industry:

	Member, Prime Minister's Council for Trade & Industry
	Member, Prime Minister's taskforce on Pharmaceuticals & Knowledge-Based Industries
	External Director, State Bank of India (India's largest commercial bank)
	Member, Board of Trade (constituted by the Ministry of Commerce)
	Chairman, National Committee on Industrial Policy for 2003-04 (constituted by the Confederation of Indian Industries, the apex industrial body in India)
	Director of Pratham, an initiative to provide affordable education to underprivileged Indian children
	Only Indian member of the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Governors' Forum on Healthcare
	Selected as a "Global leader of tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum (1996)
	Has been the Chairman, Bombay Chapter of Young Presidents' Organisation (a world-wide prestigious organisation of CEOs, Presidents and Chairmen)

Mr. Piramal is 48 years old and holds a Master in Management Studies from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, University of Bombay (1978); he has completed the Advanced Management Programme from the Harvard Business School in 1992.