Murali Divi was to become a chemist just like his brothers but fate had something else in store as he set about on the path to becoming a billionaire.
A small-town person who found it tough to crack exams due to weak English language skills went on to become India’s highest paid pharma executive. From humble beginning to the heights of success, Murali Divi is a US-trained scientist who returned home to make it big and finally emerged as part of the “Make in India” story. He went to the US with $7, and is now worth more $9.9 billion. Here is his inspiring success story.
1. Humble origins
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69-year-old Murali Divi belongs to a simple family from the small town of Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Son of a retired government officer. Divi and his 12 siblings were raised by their father on a meagre pension of ₹10,000 per month. Divi never realized the financial strains on the family until he failed twice in his intermediate exams. That was the turning point.
2. The turning point
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Speaking to a leading international business media house, Divi once elaborated how he was sincere in his studied but his preparation was limited to rote learning because of weak English language skills. Failing in the first year of graduation brought him the hard realization that he needed to be more responsible in life. To help ease his family’s finances, Divi decided to study harder and become better. From not knowing English, he bagged the opportunity to go work in the US.
3. Trip to the US and back
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Murali Divi was on his way to become a chemist just like his elder brothers but fate had something else in store as he started on the path to becoming a billionaire by getting a green card and moving to the US in 1976, to start his career as a pharmacist. He worked in the US with different companies rising up to earn a $65,000 a year. However, homesickness and a calling from the motherland brought Murali Divi back to India.
4. Founding Divi's Laboratories
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Back in India, Divi had no concrete plans for what the future will be like. Another turning point came when he joined emerging pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy’s Labs in 1984, only to leave 6 years later to create his own pharma company in 1990, Divi's Laboratories.
5. Becoming a billionaire
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23 years after having founded Divi's Labs, Murali became a billionaire in 2013. In 2018-19, he became the highest-paid pharmaceutical executive in India. The stock worth of Divi's Labs has grown more than 400% in the last 3 years. Under the Atma-Nirbhar Abhiyan and with the support for Make in India products, Divi's Labs grew from strength to strength, growing leaps and bounds as the requirement for pharma products surged amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As per Forbes, Murali Divi and family stand at 384th richest in the world with a net worth of over Rs 72,000 crore ($9.9 billion).
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