Starting from Rs 5000 to a billion dollar company-Desh Bandhu Gupta's Incredible Success Story of Lupin

Desh Bandhu Gupta (born 1938)  is the founder and Chairman of Lupin Limited, a multinational pharmaceuticals company.

Gupta started his career as an Associate Professor at the Birla institute of science and technology  Rajasthan.

He founded Lupin in the 1968 with a start-up capital of just Rs.5000.  His inimitable commitment & pioneering spirit has steered Lupin into becoming a USD 1.83 billion global pharmaceutical powerhouse; an innovation led transnational pharmaceutical company with leadership in Cardiovascular, CNS, Diabetology, Asthma, Paediatrics, Anti-Infectives across key markets globally, with global leadership positions in Anti tuberculosis  and cephalosporin  segments.

Lupin is today the 7th largest generic pharmaceutical company globally by market capitalization and the 10th largest generic pharmaceutical company globally by revenues.  The Company also has the unique distinction of being the fastest growing top 10 Generics players in the two largest pharmaceutical markets of the world - The U.S (ranked 5th by prescriptions)  and Japan (ranked 8th).  The company is also the fastest growing, top 5 pharmaceutical players in India and the fastest growing player in South Africa (ranked 4th, growing at over 30%).

Gupta set up the Lupin Human Welfare & Research Foundation  (LHWRF) on October 2, 1988. LHWRF was set up with the objective of creating a replicable and ever evolving model for sustainable rural development with a simple goal of uplifting families living below the poverty line in rural India.

LHWRF is focussed on building a sustainable model which would aim to improves Human Development Indices (HDI) in its chosen geographic area of operations. LHWRF now reaches out to 2,200 villages across 5 States in India, touching the lives of over two million people. LHWRF has evolved into one of the largest non-government organization funded by corporation in Southeast Asia.

A practitioner of the science of vipassana  meditation, Gupta is a trustee of the Global vipassana foundation as well as the Chairman of the managing committee of ISKON, Juhu Temple.

Gupta received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the Indian Pharma industry during the Pharma Leadership Summit 2009.  He was also the recipient of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 – Visionary Leader award.  

In 2014, Forbes estimated Gupta's net worth at $4.9 billion, making him the 308th richest person in the world.