How Ratan Tata helped this 21-year-old man build a Rs 500 crore company

Generic Aadhaar's founder and CEO Arjun Deshpande caught Ratan Tata's eye after his TED Talk video went viral. (Image credit: Arjun Deshpande/LinkedIn)

When Arjun Deshpande was 16, he founded a company that offered medicines at a cheaper rate than usually available in the market. At 21, Deshpande is the CEO of Generic Aadhaar which sells generic medicines via its chain of franchisees at 80-90 percent discounts. The Mumbai-based startup is now worth Rs 500 crore and has the backing of legendary industrialist Ratan Tata.

Generic Aadhaar removed the chain of intermediaries such as marketers, distributors, and stockists, to cut down costs significantly. For example, diabetes drug Glimipiride, which normally retails for Rs 110 per strip, is available a little over Rs 5 through Generic Aadhaar, whereas anti-allergen Levocetrizine, which usually retails for Rs 55, is available for under Rs 6 per strip, CNBCTV18 reported.

In its first couple of years, Generic Aadhaar expanded rapidly across cities and won Deshpande his first TED talk which went viral and caught Ratan Tata's attention. Impressed by the company's innovative model, the industrialist offered to invest in the venture. Since then, Ratan Tata has helped Generic Aadhaar reach the last mile of the country. Now, the startup has 2,000 stores across the country, a manpower of nearly 10,000.

In April, Arjun Deshpande was lauded by President Droupadi Murmu for his dedication to making affordable medicine to Indian citizens and acknowledged Generic Aadhaar's work is contributing to the growth of the economy. She also called Deshpande the "wonder kid of pharma".

Currently, the company is working on expanding to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, UAE, and Myanmar. “We will be shortly opening our stores in Dubai, Oman, Cambodia, and Vietnam as well,” Deshpande had said.

Also, the company aims to increase it stores to 3,000 while entering into the veterinary space. The 21-year-old CEO Arjun believes medicines for animals available at low prices would reduce the financial stress of the farmers. The company recently opened its first veterinary store in Andhra Pradesh.