GV Prasad: The chief architect behind Dr Reddy's success

For, the transformation of the company from a predominantly bulk drug manufacturing unit to the big league of global generics business needed a lot of hard work and perseverance. Prasad's efforts have paid off. Today, Dr Reddy's drugs are available in more than 40 countries and the company has over 21,000 employees in different parts of the world

Venkateswar Prasad Gunupati, the co-chairman and managing director of Dr Reddy's Laboratories, with a fortune of $1.2 billion is the fifth richest person of Hyderabad. According to Hurun Global Rich List 2021, GV Prasad and his wife G Anuradha are ranked at 133 in the India's rich list and 2,238 globally, with a net worth of Rs10,700 crore. The company was founded by his late father-in-law Kallam Anji Reddy in 1984. Prasad runs the company with Satish Reddy, the late founder's son. Satish Reddy is also a billionaire. In 2020, the company acquired the rights to conduct clinical trials of Sputnik V, the Russian Covid-19 vaccine and to distribute it in India.

The 61-year-old co-chairman whose marriage to the founder's daughter played a big role in his career is now delegating part of his day-to-day work to the boss' son. By his own admission, the most important event in GV Prasad's life has been his marriage with Dr Reddy's Laboratories founder-chairman Anji Reddy's daughter.

Early life

Prasad, the second child of Syamala and Harishchandra Reddy, did his initial schooling at the Vidyaranya High School in Hyderabad. He later moved to his hometown, Nellore, where he finished his schooling at VR High School.

After completing his master's degree in chemical engineering from the Illinois University in the mid-eighties, Prasad returned to India and joined his father's construction business, immersing himself in various projects in Karnataka.

He always wanted to do something different from his family business of construction and real estateand ventured into the manufacturing of bulk drugs by setting up Bensex Laboratories, an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing company. But the unit soon ran into losses.

The loss-making Bensex needed a lifeline and that came in the form of his marriage into the Reddy's family. Anji Reddy bought his son-in-law's company and inducted him, into Dr Reddy's Lab in 1986. But Prasad dismisses all notions of any favour done by a doting father-in-law and says Bensex was a perfect fit for Dr Reddy's which was then looking out for creating more capacities for bulk drug manufacturing.

After selling Benzex Labs, Prasad briefly returned to the construction business before reappearing on the pharma landscape in 1990 as Managing Director of Cheminor Drugs Ltd. Fuelled by a spirit of entrepreneurship, Prasad transformed Cheminor into a world class API and generics manufacturer, largely through his focus on professionalism, good governance and transparency. In 2001, Cheminor Drugs merged with Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Prasad took over as the vice-chairman and CEO of the merged entity.

Journey at Dr Reddy's

His childhood passion of watching birds has not diminished even now and he has bought 100 acres of land near Hyderabad to set up one of the largest bird sanctuaries in India. Prasad says birds teach you everything from patience to team spirit. He devotes at least four to five days a year to travel along with ornithologists to study birds.

That's just about the only break he has allowed himself in what has been a very busy career since he joined Dr Reddy's in 1986. For, the transformation of the company from a predominantly bulk drug manufacturing unit to the big league of global generics business needed a lot of hard work and perseverance. The efforts have paid off. Today, Dr Reddy's drugs are available in more than 40 countries and the company has over 21,000 employees in different parts of the world.

After establishing itself strongly in the domestic market, Dr Reddy's geared up to go global. In March 1997, it achieved its first breakthrough by licensing out an anti-diabetes molecule to Denmark's Novo Nordisk, the world leader in diabetes drugs. In fact, this small step taken by the company proved to be a giant stride for the Indian pharmaceutical space. The industry went through an instant paradigm shift in its image from being known just as a copycat to being known as an innovator.

Dr Reddy's moved to Germany in early 2006 and acquired Betapharm, one of the largest generic drug companies in that country, for Rs 2,250 crore. It was the biggest ever overseas acquisition by an Indian pharmaceutical company. The pharma major on October 29, 2021 reported a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 992 crore for the quarter, up 30 per cent from Rs 762 crore reported in the corresponding period last year (adjusting for extra ordinaries of Rs 78 crore, the adjusted profit is Rs 840 crore).

Sequential growth in profit is 74 per cent from Rs 571 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2021. The revenues came in higher by 18 per cent at Rs 5,763 crore for the quarter, compared to Rs 4,897 crore in the same period last year. Sequentially, the consolidated revenue increased by 17 per cent from Rs 4,919 crore reported in the previous quarter.

Prasad at Dr Reddy's has contributed significantly to its transformation from a mid-sized firm with domestic operations into a global pharmaceutical major.

He is the architect of Dr Reddy's successful global generics and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) strategies, as well as the company's foray into biosimilars and differentiated formulations. From the day he joined Dr Reddy's in 1986 to until now, he has strengthened the company's research and developmental capabilities, and kept supporting the progressive people practices by building a holistic culture of operational excellence at Dr Reddy's. He envisioned newer business platforms like the custom pharmaceutical business and specialty pharmaceuticals and is dedicated to building the innovation side of the business.