Fired Teacher Built $15B Pharma Giant Saving Millions

A 10-year-old boy rode on his father's shoulders for 20 kilometers to reach a doctor because healthcare was too expensive and too far away. That boy, Desh Bandhu Gupta, grew up with a permanent limp and watched his best friend die of tuberculosis.

He seemed destined for a quiet life as a teacher. But in the 1960s, while teaching at BITS Pilani, Gupta took the Indian Air Force exam without asking the college's permission.

When administrators questioned him, he gave a simple reply: "I don't need anyone's permission to serve the nation." They fired him on the spot.

That firing changed everything. Manish Sabharwal, Gupta's son-in-law and co-author of the new book "Made in India," recently told BITS Pilani's director they should endow a chair celebrating that termination.

The reason? Without it, Lupin wouldn't exist.

Gupta founded Lupin in a country that was 128th in per capita GDP. Today, his company sends 20 billion pills to America every year and makes more tuberculosis medicines than any company on Earth.

He grew up in a house without electricity or running water. Building a business meant taking 24-hour train rides to Delhi and waiting in government corridors for officials to approve prices.

Once, a bureaucrat walking to the bathroom asked Gupta if he had no work to do. "Sir, we have no work until you approve our prices," Gupta replied.

He persisted through India's License Raj era, when starting a business meant fighting the state before fighting the market. Where others gave up or cut corners, Gupta kept going.

The Ripple Effect

India now makes 60% of the world's medicines. The country has a third of all US FDA-approved pharmaceutical plants and sells medicines in 200 countries.

Gupta wasn't alone. Founders like Yusuf Hamied of Cipla and Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma built their companies during the same difficult era.

Two policies made it possible: India's Patents Act of 1970 and America's Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984. Together, they created space for affordable generic medicines to reach millions who couldn't afford treatment.

After the 1970 law passed, entrepreneurs founded 25,000 pharmaceutical companies in India. When Gupta started, nine of India's top ten pharma companies were foreign multinationals.

Today, only one is.

Lupin wasn't built without mistakes. Gupta once gambled on real estate and stocks, nearly destroying everything he'd created. The company's value crashed from 1,000 crore rupees to 286 crore.

He learned, refocused on pharmaceuticals, and rebuilt.

Gupta passed away in 2017, but his company continues making medicines affordable for people who would otherwise go without treatment. The boy who couldn't access healthcare created a system where millions can.