Meet Mahima Datla, Andhra, Telangana’s richest woman with net worth Rs 8,700 crore, know her business

An inspirational young business leader, Mahima Datla emerged as the richest woman in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022. Mahima Datla and family’s net worth was pegged at a whopping Rs 8,700 crore, which put her at the 10th spot among the richest people in AP and Telangana. Datla became richer by Rs 1,000 crore from the previous year when her net worth was Rs 7,700 crore in the 2021 IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List. 

45-year-old Mahima Datla is the promoter and Managing Director of Biological E Ltd, the 75-year-old Hyderabad-based pharma giant. A third-generation leader, Mahima has made big leaps in the vaccine business. Datla’s Biological E made the headlines during the coronavirus pandemic by developing the Corbevax Covid-19 vaccine. 

Datla never intended to join the family business founded back in 1948 as one of the pharma pioneers, bringing Heparin medicine to India. A business management graduate from London’s Webster University, Mahima joined the company in 2021. She had never planned to work for Biological E and didn’t “even have a clue” that she would end up at the family business. However, she stayed back after graduation considering “it would look good on my resume,” she was recently quoted as saying. 

When her father Vijay Kumar Datla passed away in 2013, she took over the reins of the company. Under Mahima Datla, Biological E supplies its vaccines to over 100 nations, with over 200 crore doses in the last decade. Its portfolio includes 7 WHO prequalified vaccines for diseases like measles, tetanus and rubella. It is reportedly the largest maker of tetanus vaccines globally. As a leading voice in health, Mahima Datla also engages with the Indian government on public policy.