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A corporate scholar

A scholarly background, splendid career achievements and touching humility—this is how one describes Dr Kamal K Sharma. Sonal Shukla profiles this simple man, who is also the MD of Lupin.

He is a man driven by big dreams. Kamal K Sharma's association with Lupin has largely been influenced by the ambition to grow big in life. The man has grown with the company, keeping pace with the changing times. His personal triumphs are also too exceptional to be missed.

The IIT days

Born in a middle-class family and being the eldest among seven children, he grew up in an environment, where getting good education and acquiring values was of supreme importance. "Those were the days when parents used to decide their child's career. My becoming an engineer and going to the top engineering college was my father's dream. So I applied to only one college, which happened to be IIT and I got selected," remembers Sharma.

Getting selected in IIT Kanpur had a great impact on his perspective towards life. "Suddenly, I was in an environment, where I was competing with the best talent in the country. For me, it was a challenge, as well as an opportunity," says Sharma. The real test started when he had to struggle to get acquainted with the competitive and challenging environment at the IIT campus. Unlike any regular college, here he was on his own, trying to understand the lingo of American professors and knotty engineering subjects. "I know that many people used to find it very difficult. But at the raw age of sixteen, it was a very powerful instrument of self-growth for me," states Sharma. His IIT days were marked with many achievements, both in academia and sports.

A matter of choice

After graduating in chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur, finding a cushy and high paying job in a big multinational was not difficult. In the initial years of his career, he worked in the areas of glass fibre and polymers. He believes that his entry into the pharma industry was more of an accident. Those were the days when the cream of the crop working for multi-nationals used to scoff at the idea of working for an Indian company. But he personally felt that if someone had to grow, he must be in a place where there were fewer restrictions.

He got to know from a headhunter that Lupin was looking for professionals to head their operations. Sharma came into contact with Dr Desh Bandhu Gupta, Chairman of Lupin and his long-lasting relationship with the company and Gupta started. From a third person's perspective, joining Lupin, that too for the post of DGM, was not at all an interesting proposition when there were offers pouring in for the position of CEO from other organisations. "It was a small company then and everybody, who wished me well told me that I am about to make the biggest blunder of my life. But what really impressed me was the way Gupta thought. He always wanted to grow big and do things, which will be of national importance and make an impact on the society. Therefore, I thought, becoming a part of that process would be enticing," says Sharma. He started working as a project head of a formulation unit. Over the span of one and a half decade of his relationship with the company, he held many positions in the areas of general management, HR, strategy and business development.

The turning point

The year 1990 was a turning point for him, when he got an offer to become the MD of Lupin Chemicals, one of the subsidiary company, which subsequently got merged with Lupin. "I realised that now I have the entire responsibility of the company on my shoulders. As we made Lupin Chemicals public, my span of accountability increased just from my own company employees to shareholders and banks. This responsibility matured me," says Sharma.

Lupin Chemicals was one of the largest investments in the pharma industry at that time. The company made almost Rs 92 crore investment in setting up a fermentation plant at Tarapur. His job was to run the project without any cost escalation. Fermentation was a discipline, which was not so developed in those days.

For Sharma, it was a challenge to bring in and establish a new technology. "It was the joy of creating something new. We came face to face with many failures initially, but the challenge of setting it right and getting it going was again very interesting," he states with pride.

Sharma was simultaneously associated with Lupin Laboratories, heading the corporate development front and looking after new areas of growth, technology, products and markets. "I have never applied for a job. I was with Lupin for almost 16 years, heading many positions, ranging from DGM to the president of corporate development," says Sharma. When he felt the need to expand his horizons, he joined RPG Lifesciences as the President and CEO in the year 1995. However, in 2003, he found himself back in Lupin.

A perpetual learner

While working, Sharma managed to complete an advanced management programme from the Harvard Business School, Boston, as well as obtained a PhD in welfare economics from IIT Bombay. However, it was not easy for him to start studying all over again and he had to put in a lot of hard work. "I always had a quest for intellectual stimulation and with God's grace, I have more than made up for that by doing a PhD in economics," says Sharma. He saw an interesting symbiosis of technology and economics in business. Having a lot of practical experience and understanding of business economics, the best way to translate it into higher level of understanding was through research work. He did exactly that.

What Sharma likes about the pharmacy discipline is its knowledge intensive outlook and the focus on inventing something new every time. The complexity of the pharma business has always excited him. Being a witness to an era of reverse engineering with no WTO restrictions and now as a part of the WTO, dealing with the issues of intellectual property, everything has been a part of his exciting memories.

Talking about influences, his role models kept changing with the times. When a student, his IIT professor influenced him with the latter's calm and relaxed approach and the ability to be informal with students without breaking the norm of formality. While working in a company, he was fascinated by his boss's ability to handle diversity with equal ease. He continues to be inspired by his mother's forbearance and composed nature. "She has influenced my thinking and my mind," he says. Today, while dealing with people, it is this quality of forbearance that helps him the most.

The winning proposition

A good and clear vision, strength of character, the ability to lead a capable team and creating strong networks is how he describes his secret of heading Lupin. "I believe success in business does not necessarily come from your understanding or degree in a particular area. It stems from your understanding of the customer and the market dynamics," he asserts.

His plans for the company are as far reaching as his philosophy towards his work. He wants to see Lupin become a billion-Dollar company by 2009. His ultimate aim is to get into the field of education, wherein, he can impart his knowledge to the next generation. According to him, more pharma graduates should get into leadership roles in marketing and product development instead of restricting themselves to the area of manufacturing.

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