Murali Divi, the founder of Divi’s Labs, one of the top three manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) belongs to a small town in Andhra Pradesh. With his hard work, he established a company with a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 1.3 lakh crore (over $17 billion).
Murali Divi’s life
For the unversed, his father used to manage a family of 14 on a meagre pension of Rs 10,000 per month.
Murali Divi’s career
Murali Divi studied to become a chemist just like his elder brothers but he decided to move to the US in 1976 and started his career as a pharmacist. He worked with multiple companies and earned approximately around $65,000 a year. He started his career at Warners Hindustan Company and received Rs 250. However, he soon decided to come back to India.
With no future plans, he joined an emerging pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy’s Labs in 1984. He worked there for 6 years and in 1990 decided to start Divi’s Laboratories.
Divi’s Laboratories initially started developing commercial processes for the manufacturing of APIs and intermediates. In 1995, the company built its first Manufacturing facility at Choutuppal, Telangana. In 2002, the second manufacturing utility started near Visakhapatnam.
The Hyderabad-based company is the world’s largest manufacturer of more than ten generic active pharmaceutical ingredients. In March 2022, Devi Laboratories reported revenue of Rs 88 billion.
Murali Divi’s education
Murali Divi studied PUC in Machilipatnam. He was not a good student. He went to MIT, Manipal Academy of Higher Education for his graduation. The decision turned out to be a game-changer in his life. He pursued Bachelor of Pharmacy course at the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Murali Divi’s net worth
As per Forbes, Murali Divi has an estimated net worth of $5.8 billion.
