Do you know India’s number 1 generic medicine brand ?
Once upon a time, it started with just 10,000 rupees. With multiple rejections and failures on every other part of their journey.
Imagine an Indian brand reaching global level, how much hard work they might have put in to become so big ?
The story begins when Dilip Shanghvi was a commerce graduate but was interested in pharma.
But how ?
The Journey
His father had a retail chemist store. While studying he used to help his father. When he was working, he understood that most of the wealth was earned by manufacturers rather than retailers.
Dilip Shanghvi, was keen on establishing his own business. But he had no experience or academic knowledge of the pharma industry. So he decided to work and gain experience before starting, but unfortunately, he was rejected. Due to his lack of pharmaceutical background.
He was stubborn and enthusiastic to start it. After years of struggle, he prepared 5 generic medicines for mental health.
Guess what ?
Nobody accepted the medicine. He visited all the doctors and asked them to prescribe them.
Doctors said without any clinical trial, or which company is it ? You want us to give it to the patients.
After the failure, he visited retailers and small shops. They said if the doctor doesn't suggest the patients, who will buy them ?
He understood that the pharma industry is driven by trust. So, after years of failures and rejection, a smart idea came into his head. Dilip Shanghvi went to a retail store and asked again. This time he said keep it for free and if the patients do not buy I wouldn't accept money.
This smart strategy worked wonderfully, as the retailers thought it was free and low risk. Soon, people started recognizing and started to buy Sun-Pharma medicines. Slowly, the expansion began with research institutes and, after getting profitable business, they started acquiring other pharma brands.
Today, 55% of global generic medicines are sold by Sun Pharma. They supply almost 2,000 medicines in 100 countries and have a major presence in the USA and Canada. Working regressively with 43,000 employees. The 10,000 to 4 lakh crore journey of Sun Pharma is amazing.
