Ratan Tata has bought a 50% stake in 18-year-old Arjun Deshpande's company Generic Aadhaar
Mumbai.
Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has bought a 50% stake in Mumbai-based Generic Aadhaar Pharmacy. The founder of the company is 18-year-old Arjun Deshpande. The generic base sells its drugs at a much cheaper price than the market price compared to other online pharmacies. Deshpande has confirmed the deal, but refused to pay the price. He said business tycoon Ratan Tata had heard his proposal three to four months ago. Tata was interested in the partnership and wanted to run the business as a patron. He said the investment made for the deal would be formally announced soon.
Ratan Tata has invested in several startups
These include Ola, Paytm, Snapdeal, Curefit, Urban Ladder, Lenskart and Libret.
Retailers receive up to 20% profit
Deshpande started a general support company two years ago. He was only 16 at the time. Now his company claims revenue of Rs 6 crore every year. This startup follows a unique pharmacy-aggregator business model. It has created direct sources for manufacturers and sold generic drugs in retail pharmacies. This saves 16-20% of the margins of retail pharmacies, which wholesalers earn. About 80% of the drugs sold in the country are manufactured by more than 50,000 companies in the country. These companies charge a margin of over 30%, 20% goes to the wholesaler and 10% goes to the retailer.
The company follows a profit sharing model
About 30 retailers in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Odisha have followed the suit and followed the profit sharing model. It is primarily a standalone pharmacy. Provides free face-lifts, logos and essential IT infrastructure support for general base branding from Thane head office. The generic base has about 55 employees. These include pharmacists, IT engineers and marketing professionals.
Cancer drugs will be made available at a lower price than the market
Deshpande said, "It is planned to open 1000 small franchise medical stores on a general basis in a year. It is planning to expand to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The company mainly targets diabetes and high blood pressure." Provides medicines for, but soon cures cancer. " Tea in Palghar, Ahmedabad, Pondicherry and Nagpur will be offered at very low prices in the market. In collaboration with WHO-GMP certified manufacturers, cancer drugs will be procured from a manufacturer in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.
The idea for the business came from a pharmaceutical event
Deshpande started the business by taking money from his parents, who also run their own business. His mother owns a pharmaceutical marketing company that sells drugs in the international market. Dad runs a travel agency. Deshpande says that while attending a drug program during his summer vacation, he traveled with his mother to the US, Dubai and some other countries where he came up with the idea of doing business.
The owner of a large retail chain expressed interest in acquiring a stake in Generic Base a year ago, but it went unnoticed. When Deshpande was a student at Mumbai College last year, he was selected for the Thiel Fellowship in Silicon Valley. This is a two year program for young people coming into business.
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