Meet man who left his job in US, returned to India, now leads Rs 21,053 crore pharma company

Written By Prashant Tamta | Updated: Nov 06, 2023, 05:32 PM IST

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy from Mumbai University. He quit his job in US and returned to India in 1998.

Many successful businessmen in India once worked in other companies before leading their own firms. One such person is Glenn Saldanha, who left his well-established career in US and returned to India to join Glenmark. He is currently the Managing Director and Chairman of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals which has a market capitalisation of Rs 21,053 crore as of November 3.

The company was founded by his father, Gracias, in 1977 as a generic drug and active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer. In his current role, Saldanha oversees the entire operations of the organization.

Prior to Glenmark, he worked with Eli Lily, US and PricewaterhouseCoopers, US. In 1998, he left his promising career in the US and returned back to India. He then joined Glenmark and later became the Managing Director and CEO in 2000. 

Glenn holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy from Mumbai University and holds an MBA from Leonard Stern School of Business, New York University. Under his leadership, Glenmark has evolved from an Indian branded generics business into a research-driven and innovation-led organization.

Glenmark also won for two consecutive years the ‘Indian Pharma Innovation of the Year’ award, conferred by the Government of India. The company is headquartered in Mumbai. In June 2020, the company launched a potential COVID-19 drug Favipiravir under the brand name FabiFlu in India.

During Glenn Saldanha's tenure, the company has been transformed into a global organization with revenue of around Rs 12,990 crores. The company began its operations in more than 80 countries including the US, India, Europe, and Asia, etc under his tenure. Presently, around 65 per cent of Glenmark’s total turnover comes from overseas operations.

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