“Bicycle to a Rolls Royes” : The Iron Man of India, I A MODI.
Though this thought may have recently been propounded in ‘3 IDIOTS’, a young man had already internalized it five decades ago.
That young man was none other than veteran industrialist and one of the pioneers of Indian Pharmaceutical industry, Mr. Indravadan Ambalal Modi of Cadila Pharmaceuticals.
In industry circles and public life he is known as I.A.Modi. His company needs no introduction. The ‘Aciloc’ (Ranitidine) tablet that people gulp for acidity is among hundreds of medicine that Cadila Pharmaceuticals, manufactures. Their Research and Development department ranks among the top fifty R & D in the world. Having set a company at a young age of 25, Indravadanbhai by virtue of his relentless hard work and never-say-die attitude gave a distinct identity to this company.
Indravadanbhai was born on 18th February, 1926, at Hansot village in Bharuch district, Gujarat. His mother died when he was a toddler and he was brought up by his maternal grandparents together with his cousin. Father worked in railways at Ahmedabad. In those days Hansot was a backward place. Like other Indian villages there was no formal education beyond the sixth and so he went to Mehsana, a town of North Gujarat for further studies. But his grandmother could not do without him and hence he came back to Hansot and went to high school in village, Kathor. Here he was to come across his classmate Ramanbhai Patel with whom he would be founding Cadila Pharmaceuticals in future. After passing matriculation he was enrolled in the Baroda College. Then he went to UDCT, Bombay to pursue a B.Sc.(Tech.) degree. At that time he was offered scholarship to study Food Technology but he did not care for scholarship and he took admission in Pharmaceuticals.
In 1943 Indravadanbhai lost his cousin Indrajeet to typhoid because of lack of medical facilities. This shocked him so deeply that he decided to establish a medical institution at Hansot. Later in 1986, he set up a state-of-the-art hospital at Hansot where all medical treatment , including plastic surgery is given free of charge.(CSR)
Indravadanbhai started his career by joining Khandelwal Laboratory as a chemist. By this time his schoolmate Ramanbhai had completed B.Pharm. from LMCP, Ahmedabad. Indravadanbhai proposed to Ramanbhai to jointly establish a small pharmaceutical company. Both of them came to Ahmedabad and started Cadila in 1951 in a three-room based rented bungalow at Azad Society. They both had a balance of Rs.25000/ with each at that time. Their resources were scarce, but they were more than made up for by firm will and determination. Initially while running Cadila in a bungalow, they could not afford big staff and hence Indravadanbhai’s wife Sheelabahen would help him pack medicines. Indravadanbhai was a manufacturer, marketing man and delivery man all rolled in one. Everyday he would go on a bicycle to deliver medicines.
In 1995, the second generation bifurcated the company. Indravadanbhai was faced with the challenge of starting it all over again. With his son Dr.Rajeev beside him, Indravadanbhai lost no time and started all over again in the seventh decade of his life. During his second innings, he was forced to take loans at the steep interest rate of 27%. But this too could not deter him. He converted every obstacle in a stepping stone. He went on working hard and success kept kissing his feet. He kept his Rs.1000 Crore company closely held growing organically. His philosophy was to make quality products affordable to common man and that’s why he could make forays into various markets.
He has also made a substantial contribution to shaping the 1986 Drug Policy of the Government of India. As a president of Indian Drug Manufacturers Association he has served pharmaceutical industry immensely. His contribution in bringing about the Process Patent Act in 1970 was significant. This patent act is responsible for the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry being what it has become over the years.
Keeping pace with time, he is also ahead of time. He activated Agro division of the company to develop tissue cultures for growing bananas, papayas, sugarcanes, potatoes etc.
When asked about his success he simply replied “Grace of God.”
He was a man of amazing self confidence, energy and spirit. He had faced crises of Himalayan magnitude but they failed to deter this man who had scaled the Himalayas itself five times.
Indravadanbhai is recipient of many awards. To list them it would require one full page.
The remarkable journey of Indravadanbhai from “Bicycle to a Rolls Royes” ended on 26th , November, 2012. I was deeply moved on hearing the news of his sad demise being B.Sc.(Tech.) from the same institute(UDCT).
