Ajay Piramal is the Chairman of Piramal Group and he has an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion as of April 2016 according to Forbes. He is the 48th richest person in India and was ranked 931st in the list of World Billionaires. Piramal Group is a diversified conglomerate that operates in 100 countries. It started from a textile centric business to a $2 billion conglomerate with interests in pharmaceuticals, packaging, financial services, glass manufacturing, and real estate.

In 1988, Piramal bought Nicholas Laboratories, an Australian multinational corporation. It is now ranked in one of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies with a string of overseas acquisitions such as the Indian subsidiaries of Roche, Rhone Poulenc, ICI and Hoechst Research Centre. With the three redundant Piramal factory buildings in Mumbai, the first major shopping mall in India called Crossroads was developed through Piramal Realty, his fully-owned real estate venture. He was also the first one to develop organized work space at Lower Parel and built landmark structures such as Ashok Towers. His son Anand is the executive director. His daughter Nandini is in-charged of human resources and the group’s over-the-counter business.

In 2010, Ajay Piramal sold a big part of Piramal Healthcare’s domestic formulations business to U.S.-based Abbott Laboratories for $3.7 billion. The pharmaceutical tycoon has been busy remaking his fortune and changed his flagship’s name to Piramal Enterprises with its broadening interests. It now has 70% of its $2 billion revenue from its overseas operations. Last May, it acquired Decision Resources Group, the Illinois-based analytic firm, for $365 million. He also led the firm agree to buy a 5.5% stake in Vodafone India for $618 million. His total stake in the mobile telecom is now 11%.