Hello, Goodbye

Most of Ajay Piramal's moves, since he took charge of the Piramal Group four decades ago, have greatly benefitted it. One such was the deal to sell Piramal's pharma formulations business in 2010, then worth around Rs 2,000 crore, to Abbott for a whopping $3.8 billion (Rs 18,500 crore at the time). He has been investing the vast cash pile earned from the sale prudently targeting over 20 per cent annual profit, exiting with handsome earnings whenever he felt the time was ripe. He bought an 11 per cent stake in Vodafone India, for Rs 5,856 crore in two tranches in August 2011 and February 2012 and exited in April 2014 with Rs 8,900 crore.

Another of his major investments, a total of around Rs 4,500 crore, was in the Shriram Group's companies in 2013/14 Piramal Enterprises acquired a 20 per cent stake in the holding company