Kiran Mazumder-Shaw: A journey marked by grit

MYTH BREAKER
KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAW AND THE STORY OF INDIAN BIOTECH
Author: Seema Singh
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 336
Price: Rs 599

When Unilever bought the Biocon Group [in 1989], it perhaps did not do enough 'due diligence' on the Indian operation. Initially, Bengaluru's activities seemed minor and the minority holding was a lame asset for a company where many saw the Biocon Group acquisition itself as an unwelcome and unnecessary complication. Apart from Ireland, India, Peru and to some extent the Philippines were important locations for the Biocon Group. It took little time for Unilever's seasoned executives to map the opportunity and the company began to manoeuvre and take control of the Indian business.

Every few weeks, some senior executive would descend on Bengaluru. 'It would start off well but would often end with - "What would you want from Unilever?"' says Ajay Bharadwaj [former president-marketing at Biocon]. Unilever was beginning to understand that Kiran [Mazumdar-Shaw] had scant intention of ceding control. On her part, she knew that as long as they were a minority partner, she could call the shots.

After almost eighteen months of trying to convince Kiran to dilute her stakes, a large delegation, which included the global head of R&D at Unilever and his team, came to Bengaluru. In the opening meeting, Kiran gave a presentation, and her first slide, memorable to many, declared that there were three types of companies:

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Kiran Mazumder-Shaw: A journey marked by grit