Desh Bandhu Gupta (8 February 1938 – 26 June 2017) was an Indian billionaire, philanthropist, entrepreneur and the founder of

Lupin Limited Lupin Limited is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company based in Mumbai. It is one of the largest generic pharmaceutical companies by revenue globally. The company's key focus areas include paediatrics, cardiovascular, anti-infectives, ...

, a multinational pharmaceutical company. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated at US$3.6 billion.

Early life

Gupta was born on 8 February 1938 in Rajgarh, Alwar,

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

. He was the eldest of the five siblings. He earned a master's degree in chemistry from

Bombay University The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

Career

Gupta started his career as an associate professor at the

Birla Institute of Technology and Science Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) is a Deemed university in Pilani, Jhunjhunu, India. It focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. After expansion to a campus in Dubai, it has b ...

, Pilani, Rajasthan. He quit teaching and decided to be an entrepreneur as he was "not able to implement ideas into practice". He moved to Bombay (now

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

) and worked in a small British pharmaceutical manufacturing company. He founded Lupin in 1968 with a start-up capital of 5000 borrowing the money from his wife. The first office of Lupin was rented premises in Central Mumbai used for dispatching medicines. Later, with a loan of 8

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ...

from

Central Bank of India Central Bank of India (CBI) is an Indian public sector bank based in Mumbai. Despite its name, it is not the central bank of India; The Indian central bank is the Reserve Bank of India. History The Central Bank of India was established o ...

, he started a factory whose major order was to provide iron and folic acid tablets to the Government of India programmes related to mother and child healthcare. Under his leadership, Lupin became a global pharmaceutical company by entering markets across the globe including US and Japan. Gupta set up the Lupin Human Welfare & Research Foundation (LHWRF) in October 1988. LHWRF was set up with the objective of creating a reproducible and evolving model for sustainable rural development with a simple goal of uplifting families living below the poverty line in rural India. This vision of rural development focuses on holistic development programs that systematically create opportunities and infrastructure, while empowering people in rural areas, to bring about a socio-economic change and ensure the inclusion of rural communities in the nation's economic progress. Nationally, the Lupin Foundation impacts the lives of 2.8 million people living in about 3,500 villages spread across 9 states – Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Jammu, Andhra Pradesh, and Sikkim. Gupta was the recipient of an

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award The EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards previously Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is an award sponsored by Ernst & Young in recognition of entrepreneurship. Founded in 1986 in Milwaukee as a single award, as of 2016 twenty-five pro ...

for 2011 in the healthcare sector, and a Frost & Sullivan Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. In April 2018, he was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame at the CNBC TV18 India Business Leader Awards 2018. In 2015, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' estimated Gupta's net worth at $7.2 billion, making him the 254th richest person in the world.

Personal life

Gupta was married to Manju and lived in Mumbai. He is survived by his wife and five children: four daughters and one son. Their daughter Vinita D. Gupta is based in United States and is the Group President & CEO and son

Nilesh Gupta Nilesh Gupta (born 1974) is an Indian businessman, the managing director (MD) of Lupin Limited since September 2013. Early life He is the only son of Desh Bandhu Gupta Desh Bandhu Gupta (8 February 1938 – 26 June 2017) was an Indian bil ...

is the Managing Director based in India. Gupta died on 26 June 2017 at Mumbai, aged 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Desh Bandhu 1938 births 2017 deaths Indian businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry Marwari people Indian billionaires Businesspeople from Mumbai