About Speaker

Nimmagadda Prasad, a first generation entrepreneur, hails from an agricultural family in a small village in Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh. With a Master’s Degree in Physics and in Business Administration, Prasad made a humble beginning in 1984 as a management trainee with the Indian Molasses Company in Delhi. After various professional roles, Prasad turned entrepreneur in the year 2000 by acquiring a sick pharmaceutical company, Matrix Laboratories Limited (Matrix), in Hyderabad.

Through a combination of product innovation, strategic acquisitions and an increased global footprint, Prasad revived and transformed Matrix into a company with more than Rs 2000 Cr revenue and Rs 200 Cr of net profits. Over this period, as recognized by NACO, Matrix also became a critical player in the eradication of AIDS in India. Alongside, Matrix employed 9,000 people, paid annual corporate taxes of over Rs 100 Cr and brought in valuable foreign exchange through investments by Temasek and other foreign investors. For three consecutive years from 2004 to 2006, Motilal Oswal Securities awarded Matrix with the “Fastest Wealth Creator” award. In 2006, Matrix was acquired by US-listed pharmaceutical major, Mylan Inc. for US$1Bn making this the largest transaction in the Indian pharmaceutical industry and earning further valuable foreign exchange for the country.

From his post-tax sale proceeds, Prasad made various investments in healthcare, media, infrastructure and hospitality sectors. These investments included Care Hospitals, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, Maa TV, Bharati Cements, and Jagathi Publications. Maa TV was another particularly successful investment which was transformed into a highly profitable business and then sold to US-listed media major, 21st Century Fox for ~US$400Mn, again earning valuable foreign exchange for the country.

Alongside, through his trust, Nimmagadda Foundation, Prasad has taken up several philanthropic initiatives. Over the last 10 years, he has donated over Rs 100 Cr including a founding contribution to the Pullela Gopichand Nimmagadda Foundation Badminton Academy which is now producing world champions from India in that sport, a founding donation to the Chennai Mathematical Institute which is now a deemed university, a partnership with LV Prasad Eye Institute for the eradication of needless blindness in children, and an association with CARE Hospitals for conducting life-saving congenital heart surgeries for children from poor families.