Sharvil Patel: Driving growth through research

Patel is also focusing on making personal care into a billion-dollar business

Sharvil Patel, deputy managing director of Cadila Healthcare Ltd, the fifth largest pharmaceutical company in India, has his work cut out for him, if he is to make it a $3 billion company by 2015.

The holder of a PhD from the University of Sunderland for his research work in breast cancer at John Hopkins, Bayview Medical Centre in the USA, Patel, who recently took over the reins of Zydus Wellness - the group's personal care arm - from his father Pankaj R Patel, believes that research will drive the Group's future. "Research and innovation is critical for growth. You cannot grow beyond a point without research," he says.

He believes that the company's patented new chemical entity, Lipaglyn, the world's first drug to be approved for the treatment of diabetic dyslipidemia, has the potential to become a billion-dollar business in the years ahead.

As a young man, he had an option before him: a doctorate or an MBA degree for higher studies. He chose research. "From the very beginning, seeing my grandfather and my father with technical backgrounds, I always had an interest in research, to do something new. I was very young, and at that point wanted to do something in cancer research, as not much was available," he reminisces. Coming from a research background did not stop him from becoming a key strategist in the company.

He recalls, "I was lucky enough about the time of joining, because that was when we were working on the project to touch $1 billion in revenue, and I was made the project manager." The project had two main facets - revenues, and planning new initiatives and businesses for the next five years.

That was when Zydus started investing in vaccines and biologics (around the mid-2000s). Patel's growth has since been steady. "I continued to take on more responsibility from my father, who now mainly plays the role of a mentor as the chairman, rather than a day-to-day role," he says, adding half in jest, "every year I take one or two businesses away from him."

Does he ever feel the pressure of working under the shadow of a successful father? Patel junior is confident, explaining that his father definitely pushes him, but never micro-manages. As for the personal care business that he inherited from his father, he thinks that it has the potential to become a billion dollar company faster than Zydus.

The group's revenues of Rs 250 crore in 1995 had soared to Rs 7,200 crore in FY14, and the target for 2015 is Rs 10,000 crore. It currently employs over 16,000 people, and the young and astute Patel, who is part of the Zydus Executive Board (which oversees different business verticals of the group) is said to be a good man-manager. He claims that the company's attrition levels are very low, and that Zydus has been able to build a strong and capable team. "What excites all of us at Zydus is research, be it small generic research or quest for a new molecule," he says.

Sharvil Patel
Deputy Managing Director, Cadila Healthcare Ltd.