Ramesh and Rajeev Juneja of Mankind Pharma fought popular perceptions and made large acquisitions, focussed on specialty products and a segregated OTC business to emerge as the fourth largest pharma player in the country
Rajeev Juneja, Vice Chairman and MD, Mankind Pharma
Image: Amit Verma
As I step into Rajeev Juneja’s office at Mankind Pharma’s Delhi headquarters, the wall in front of me immediately commands attention. It features a collection of iconic quotes and striking black-and-white portraits of renowned leaders. The portraits are without names, and each is accompanied by a keyword that encapsulates their essence.
“We’ve always been inspired by the Tatas; they are my heroes,” says Juneja, gesturing toward a portrait of JRD Tata, with the word ‘admiration’ beneath it. “Our dream was to always turn Mankind into an institution,” says the 59-year-old who is vice chairman and managing director of the company. “And dreams should always seem impossible.”
Back in 1984, Ramesh Juneja, Rajeev’s older brother, had started a formulations business, as a partnership, called Bestochem in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. This was after he resigned from his earlier job at pharma company Lupin in 1983. A decade later, he withdrew from the enterprise, and started Mankind Pharma along with Rajeev.
When Ramesh worked as a medical representative at Lupin, he would visit small towns and villages in Bihar. “Most patients who came in for doctor consultations had limited money. After paying the consultation fee, they were unable to afford medicines and had to opt for partial medications,” he writes in the company’s FY24 annual report. The brothers started the company with one goal: Making affordable medicines of high quality.
A lot has changed since then: Mankind is today a formidable listed Indian pharma player, with a turnover of ₹10,335 crore in FY24 and market capitalisation of ₹121,193 crore (at the time of writing of this article). Yet, for the Juneja brothers, the goal to make quality medicines accessible and affordable remains.