ExpressAWE Lifetime Achievement Award Winner 2024 SWATI PIRAMAL: A pioneer in public health
Nnyone who has known Swati Piramal or followed her entrepreneurial journey, would find her more than what her calling card can capture.
The vice-chairperson of the Piramal group is also a philanthropist, scientist, medical doctor and author.
Founder of the Gopikrishna Piramal Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, she has been instrumental in launching several pan-India public health campaigns against chronic diseases and has over the past three decades taken efforts towards providing cost-effective and science-based healthcare delivery. No wonder, an eminent jury chose her as the winner of the lifetime achievement award category of the Express Awards for Women Entrepreneurs (ExpressAWE). The awards are a joint initiative of Financial Express and Ficci-FLO.
ExpressAWE 2022 Highlights: Anu Aga gets Lifetime Achievement award, Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar named newsmaker of the year
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson, Biocon and a jury member, said Piramal’s has been a very well respected a very strong woman’s voice in the pharmaceutical industry for a very long time. She opted to invest in IP-led research and innovation at a time when most Indian pharma companies were not focussed on this area and it was because of her thought leadership that the Piramal group started differentiating itself.
The jury was chaired by Deepak Parekh, former chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation, and the other members were Zia Mody, co-founder and managing partner, AZB & Partners, Meher Pudumjee, chairperson, Thermax, Preetha Reddy, vice chairperson, Apollo Hospitals, and Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart and now Navi Technologies.
A Padma Shri, Piramal has authored several books, written public policy papers, been on key government bodies and even on the board of Harvard university. Winner of several accolades, she has also been decorated with France’s highest civilian award.
Always pursuing the push to place women in the lead role and trigger changes that follow, Piramal, during her time as the first woman president of Assocham in 90 years ensured women lead every industry within the chamber with at one point 100 women on stage with her. The idea was to get women to the top and then get them to be the change agents.
Over half of the scientists at the Piramal group’s patent cell are women who have won some big wins worldwide. One of the prickly issues that she needed to address in the research arena is try and get women scientists return to science after their break due to child birth or family compulsions.
Piramal Pharma, which is today a demerged entity, is led by her daughter Nandini. It is today a leading pharmaceutical company with a market cap of Rs 15,796 crore and commercial presence in over 100 countries. The company has 17 development and manufacturing sites and through its contract development and manufacturing arm works with global innovator companies showcasing Indian abilities at research & intellectual property.
As the director of Piramal foundation, the philanthropic arm of Piramal Group, Piramal has been deeply involved in creating innovative solutions and establishing avenues that promote primary healthcare in rural India.
To make a difference, where it matters, in the remote locations of the country, the foundation has been since 2008 running a Gandhi Fellowship programme. She spearheads the efforts of the Foundation towards effective public policy, governance apart from playing a significant role in establishing avenues that promote primary healthcare in rural India and for the tribal communities.
Zia Mody, also a jury member, said Piramal has demonstrated her consistent passion for health and wellness throughout her career.
