n November 2004, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

(Kiran), the Chairperson and Managing

Director of Biocon India Limited (Biocon)
received the 'Businesswoman of the Year
Award,' from 'The Economic Times of India,2'
a leading Indian business daily. This award
was to be given to a person who "was global
in nature and would have shareholders' good
uppermost in mind. The person should have
followed her heart and vision relentlessly,
broken all glass ceilings3 and pioneered the
cause of women in business."4 It symbolized
the increasing importance of the role of
women in the Indian business arena. One of
the most successful businesswomen in India,
Kiran had received several awards during her
career of over 25 years (Refer Exhibit I for the
list of awards received by Kiran).

She founded Biocon as an enzyme extraction company in a rented garage in 1978. By

2004, Biocon had emerged as the #1 biotech company in Asia, and #16 in the world in
terms of revenues and market capitalization. The company made its initial offer of shares
to the public in March 2004. The shareholders earned handsome returns on their
investments as the stock, which was offered at Rs 315, touched a high of Rs 780 in early
November 2004 (Refer Exhibit II for the stock price chart of the company). Reportedly,
Kiran had to break through the 'glass ceiling' effect on several occasions being a woman
entrepreneur in the traditional Indian society.

She believed that Indian women can do well

in business even if they don't belong to a
business family or have political influence or
immense wealth. Kiran believed that women
in India were not meant for only certain kind
of jobs like teacher, nurse or personal
secretary, or for running a small or cottage
industry at the most. She considered herself a
representative of the modern women who
could work shoulder-to-shoulder alongside
men and build mega businesses. Expressing a
deep desire for equality, she said in her award
acceptance speech, "I do hope that in the not-
too-distant future, there will be one award for
men and women alike - the Businessperson of
the Year Award."5
Kiran was born and brought up in Bangalore
in the state of Karnataka, India. She hailed
from a middle-class family, which encouraged
her to pursue higher education. Following the
footsteps of her father, who was chief
brewmaster6 in United Breweries7, she went to
Ballarat College in Melbourne, Australia, to
specialize in Malting and Brewing
Technology to become India's first woman
brewmaster. Kiran came back to India in 1975
expecting to get lucrative job offers. However,
she did not receive any. Though she possessed
the required technical qualifications, her
chosen profession was completely male-
dominated one8. After staying for two years as
a consultant in India, Kiran went abroad and
found a job in the UK.

There she met Leslie Auchincloss (Auchincloss), the owner of Biocon Biochemicals
Limited, an Ireland-based company. Auchincloss was planning to start a business in
India. The Irish company wanted to establish its operations in India to produce simple
bio-products from indigenous raw materials.

The Growth of Biocon

Biocon started with the manufacture and
export of Papain, a plant enzyme, and
Isinglass, a marine hydrocolloid,11 which are
key products for the brewing industry. Within
two years, Biocon established a steady flow of
exports to Ireland. As the offtake of the
company's products by Ireland grew, Biocon's
manufacturing activity was shifted from the
rented garage to a 20-acre site near Bangalore
city in 1983. Kiran was not content with the
steady growth in the product offtake by the
Irish company. In 1984, she decided to recruit
a team to commence research and
development (R&D) in new areas of enzyme
technology.

Excerpts

ocon emerged as the #1 biotech company in

Asia and #16 in the world in terms of its fiscal
2003-04 revenues. For the fiscal year 2003-04,
the company recorded net revenues of Rs
5018.824 mn, almost twice the previous year's
figure, and a net profit of Rs 1246.726 mn.
(Refer Exhibit III for the financial
performance of the company). In the past 25
years, the company had evolved from a maker
of enzymes to a major pharmaceutical
enterprise, producing everything from
insulin19 to antibodies20 (Refer Exhibit IV for
the Biocon's achievements). On March 11,
2004, the company launched its initial public
offer (IPO) of 10 million equity shares of Rs 5
face value at a price band of Rs 270-315. With
this, Biocon became the first biotech company
in India to go public.

The IPO was oversubscribed by 33 times, indicating the confidence of investors in

Biocon. In December 2004, Biocon's average market capitalization between April 01,
2004 and September 30, 2004 stood at Rs 54 bn...

Looking Ahead
Without resting on her past laurels, Kiran has
moved onto even more challenging ventures
of developing insulin and drugs that can cure
cancer. With 120 mn diabetic patients
worldwide and 30 mn in India, diabetes had
emerged as an important area for disease
research. Biocon, through its subsidiary -
Clinigene, embarked on a longitudinal
research program in Type II diabetes.24 In the
later half of 2004, Biocon launched
recombinant human insulin under the brand
name 'Insugen.' The product pitted Biocon
against leading multinationals like Eli Lilly25
who had already lowered prices...