Czarina of Indian biotech

Journalist Seema Singh’s recently launched book, Myth Breaker: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech, tells the inspiring story of an iconic Indian businesswoman whose meteoric rise made her a role model to a whole generation of aspiring entrepreneurs.  

It was during the course of many interviews the author had with her subject that she discovered several underlying facets of Kiran — the most significant being that her palette of emotions is much richer than the world knows her to have. Though Kiran can be mercurial at times, the writer says what struck her the most was that despite the fact that she has the reputation of a formidable businesswoman who keeps her head and heart separate while negotiating deals, she is trusting and uncalculating enough to make decisions over a handshake!

Seema opines, “I think her greatest strength is resilience, both in business and relationships. To cite an instance, which is not in the book, is her advice to Vijay Mallya, her childhood friend and chairman of the UB Group, at regular intervals. When he wanted to get into airline business, she advised him against it. (She even spoke about it in a Kingfisher in-flight magazine interview.) Later, when he bought the low-cost airline, Air Deccan, she again advised him against it and suggested to keep Kingfisher small. When she saw it going in the red, she had advised him to cut the loss. ‘I used to tell him to get out of the business or else it would cost him a lost. When he got into debt trouble, I’d tell him ‘pay off your staff, you need goodwill’.”

In relationships too, Kiran is by and large willing to brush aside hard feelings and move on, says Seema. “I think she doesn’t hold grudges or else I wouldn’t be able to understand why she has helped a few people, people who she knows have bad-mouthed her,” she adds.

Myth Breaker is both a biography and a chronicle. However, Seema says, she would rather be remembered as the teller of Kiran’s story rather than a chronicler, and says that she discovered many interesting facets of her subject. For instance, Kiran Mazumdar often tells people to not just do things differently but also do different things. It’s for this reason her own business looked confusing to many — Biocon seemed to be doing too many things and sent out mixed signals to the market. Over time businesses fell into place, and she was able to synthesise different threads.

Seema reveals a lighter side to Kiran, and recounts a prank that she pulls every now and then. In 1989, when she was awarded the Padma Shri, she told people close to her that she was entering politics. This unnerved her younger brother in the US so much that he went to great pains to entreat and convince her that politics was not for her! Kiran prefers a non-partisan approach to politics. She says, “I engage with politicians on development and policies which have an apolitical hue. I would never be a good politician and clearly have no delusions to be one! My friend Nandan Nilekani has made me realise how we are just not politically savvy.”

Myth Breaker’s last lines are indicative of what Biocon means to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. Asked what if a buyer comes with a hard to ignore valuation and a good set of hands to run the company (between Shaw and her husband John, they own about 60 per cent of Biocon), she quips, “It’s not for sale. Not in my lifetime.”

The book combines the personal story with a close look at the larger picture of the milieu around the person. Shaw’s journey started around the same time that the first molecular biology centre in India — Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad — was set up, and the rest of the world was moving towards recombinant technology. Which is why, explains the author, “to set Shaw and her company in context it was essential to talk about the industry. Later on, she became the most vocal cheerleader, an evangelist if you will, of the sector.”

Kiran and Seema started out with a clear understanding, and a two-hour meeting every four to five weeks. Seema says firmly, “She never influenced my writing, nor asked for any change. I’ve written what I found. This is my book. Let me put this on record — I spoke to over 250 people and no one can say I’ve left out any piece of information which they shared with me, and which was relevant to the narrative. I must have taken 30-35 hours of meetings with her. It took about 12 months to research, report and write. When I finished, I did not even have to clear the draft with her before publication.”