- Success story of Dr Arokya Velumani, head of Thyrocare
He hailed from a poor family where his father could not afford to buy even a pair of slippers to wear. But the same person is now owner of nearly Rs 5,000 crore. Dr Arokya Velumani is the head of Thyrocare Technologies, an undisputed leader in the field of Thyrocare. He sold his 66 percent stake in the company to API Holdings, the parent company of Pharm Easy, for a whopping Rs 4,546 crore. Of this, he will receive 4.9 per cent stake against Rs 1,500 crore in API Holdings. Due to the deal, the market value of Pharm Easy has increased from Rs 13,390 crore to Rs 29,700 crore.
Here is a special story about Dr Velumani, a person who cannot speak English, started his job hunt with just a degree in hand and went on to build a multi-crore empire. He shared his success story, and experiences at the CREDAI Nat Con 2022 event in Abu Dhabi.
Velumani was born in a village near Coimbatore. His father could not handle finance of the house properly. His mother pledged her gold and bought two buffaloes and supported the family by doing dairy business. Velumani, who somehow completed his degree, started job hunting soon. But there were too many hurdles, before he secured one. “I went to 50 companies, but did not get a job anywhere. All of them asked the same questions – do you know English, do you have work experience, etc,” he said.
At a time of despair, he got a job in a pharma lab company called Gemini Labs with a salary of Rs 150. However, after four years, the company was closed and Velumani’s life was back to square one. So he came to Bombay in 1982 and went on a job search once again. Finally, he got a job at Baba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) with a salary of Rs 880 per month. Apart from this, he used to earn another Rs 1,000 by conducting tuitions classes in the evening. He married Sumathi who was working in State Bank of India.
Eventually, Thyrocare’s revenue increased by 18 percent to Rs 474 crore last year, earning Rs 119.7 crore in profits which is a 51 percent increase over previous year. It went for IPO in 2016 and got a very good response. Currently, the market value of the company is Rs 7,000 crore. Of the total amount, Velumani owns 66 per cent shares which are valued nearly Rs 5,000. Usually everyone will discuss and decide. But Velumani will discuss after deciding. This is his success story.
