Skip to main content

Who is Murali Divi?

Businessworld has a profile of the Founder of Hyderabad-based Divi's Labs, which is charting stupendous growth.
It all began in 1984 for Divi, a postgraduate in pharmaceutical chemistry from the College of Pharmacy in Manipal, Karnataka. Seven years into working in the US at large specialty chemical and custom pharma manufacturing companies — first as production manager and vice-president of R&D at Fike Chemicals, and then as technical director at Schulkill Corporation — he returned to his home state of Andhra Pradesh to strike out on his own. He co-promoted two companies, Cheminor Drugs and its subsidiary Globe Organics in Hyderabad. These companies, he felt, would leverage his skills in fine chemicals manufacturing that had been honed at the US factories. An indigenous pharmaceutical industry was just making its presence felt in India after the country relaxed its patent laws in the 1970s to allow copying of drugs patented to western drug companies. His partner in these ventures was K. Anji Reddy, founder of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories...

...After he quit the JVs, Divi started small. He launched Divi’s Research Centre, an R&D and consulting company that engineered new manufacturing processes to make known drugs, and sold these to the highest Indian bidder. Divi hired fresh graduates in organic chemistry instead of experienced hands since he wanted “a different mindset”. He personally trained the first two layers of researchers. In 1994, he added a factory, investing Rs 71 crore, and changed the company’s name to Divi’s Laboratories to make bulk drugs using its proprietary processes.

...The numbers speak for themselves — Divi’s market cap, at nearly Rs 8,000 crore on 15 December, equalled that of Dr Reddy’s on that date. Top multinationals are Divi’s customers, and he is the world leader in manufacturing patent-expired painkiller naproxen, which when he started out had over 20 contenders. Naproxen accounted for about 20 per cent of the company’s sales in fiscal 2008.


Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports. Email the author at arun@ventureintelligence.in

Popular posts from this blog

PE-VC investments in Q2'23 decline 33% to $9.9 Billion

Private Equity-Venture Capital (PE-VC) investments in India during the quarter ended June 2023 (Q2'23), at $9.85 Billion across 182 deals, registered a 33% decrease compared to the same period in 2022 (which saw $14.6 Billion being invested across 371 deals). The investment amount however rose 74% compared to the immediate previous quarter (which saw $5.7 Billion being invested across 181 deals), shows data from  Venture Intelligence , a research service focused on private company financials, transactions, and their valuations. The PE-VC investment figures for the first 6 months of 2023 - at $15.5 Billion (across 363 deals) - was 50% lower compared to the same period in 2022 (which saw $31 Billion being invested across 800 deals). Q2’23 witnessed 19 mega deals ($100 M+

Chiratae, Speciale and Stride Ventures win APEX'24 Venture Capital Awards

Chiratae Ventures, Speciale Invest and Stride Ventures were awarded as among the leading Venture Capital investors in India for 2023 as part of Venture Intelligence APEX‘24 Private Equity & Venture Capital awards event in Mumbai.  The Venture Intelligence “Awards for Private Equity Excellence” (APEX) is dedicated to celebrating the best that the Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital industry has to offer. The APEX Awardees are selected based on both Self Nomination by the participating PE-VC firms and "crowd sourced" voting from the Limited Partner, PE-VC and advisory communities. (The main criteria are Return Track Record, New Fund Raises & Follow-on Funding Rounds for Portfolio Companies) VC Investor of the Year Chiratae Ventures received the Venture Capital Investor of the Year 2023 Award on the back of 10 part exits totaling $178 million via Secondary Sales during the year. Its exits included those from retail unicorn Lenskart, SaaS Startup Pixis and baby pr

Blackstone, MO Alts and InvAscent win APEX'24 Private Equity Awards

Press Release Blackstone, MO Alternates (formerly Motilal Oswal PE) and InvAscent were awarded as among the leading Private Equity and Growth Capital investors in India for 2023 as part of Venture Intelligence APEX‘24 Private Equity & Venture Capital awards event in Mumbai.  The Venture Intelligence “Awards for Private Equity Excellence” (APEX) is dedicated to celebrating the best that the Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital industry has to offer. The APEX Awardees are selected based on both Self Nomination by the participating PE-VC firms and "crowd sourced" voting from the Limited Partner, PE-VC and advisory communities. (The main criteria are Return Track Record, New Fund Raises & Follow-on Funding Rounds for Portfolio Companies) PE Investor of the Year Blackstone received the Private Equity Investor of the Year 2023 Award on the back of strong complete exits during the year: from Sona Comstar and IBS Software. Ganesh Mani and Amit Dalmia, Senior Managing D

Avendus tops League Table for Transaction Advisors to PE deals in Q1'23

Aeka Advisors and Ambit claim the No.2 & 3 slot Avendus topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Transaction Advisor to Private Equity Transactions for Q1 2023 advising 5 deals worth $808 million. Aeka Advisors stood second having advised 3 deals worth $228 million. Ambit followed with 4 deals worth $160 million. Ernst & Young ($114 million across 4 deals) and o3 Capital ($80 million across 2 deals) completed the top five for Q1 2023. Avendus acted as advisor to ADIA’s $500 million investment in omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart . Aeka Advisors acted as advisor to Kreditbee’s $160 million fundraise from Advent International, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and existing investors. Ambit advised the $104 million fundraise of Freshtohome from Mount Judi Ventures, Iron Pillar, Amazon and others. The  Venture Intelligence League Tables , the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on the value of PE

PE-VC investments fall 38% in 2023 to below $30 B

The value of investments by Private Equity - Venture Capital (PE-VC) firms in India fell by 38% to less than $30 Billion in 2023. PE-VC firms invested $29.7 Billion (across 756 deals) in Indian companies in 2023, compared to $47.6 Billion (across 1,362 deals) in the previous year, reports Venture Intelligenc e, a research service focused on private company financials, transactions, and their valuations. (Note: These figures exclude PE investments in Real Estate).                                                                                                                                                                      2023 witnessed 67 mega deals ($100 M+ rounds) worth $21.2 Billion, compared to 112 such investments worth $31.8 Billion in 2022. The $2.4 Billion investment in Manipal Hospitals by Temasek (which gained majority control) and TPG Capital was the largest PE-VC investment in 2023. This was followed by the $1.35 Billion buyout of education loans focused HDFC Credila