Bionic Woman

Biocon8217;s success has made Majumdar the richest woman in the country. Sudha Murty, wife of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy, comes a distant second with her Rs 775 crore fortune!

8216;8216;I am a godfearing person. Even on the day of listing I was praying just like any other day8230; I thank god and my team at Biocon for making it a big success,8217;8217; says Majumdar-Shaw.

8216;8216;Our stock8217;s rise was beyond our expectations8230; what matters to me is that we have now created a billion-dollar biotech company from India. I am not going to worry at stock8217;s performance at all but will focus on the company8217;s performance. It8217;s back to business for us,8217;8217; she says as soon as company made history on the stock exchanges.

Biocon8217;s listing in the Indian stock markets comes at a time when worldwide biotech companies are falling by the wayside due to the high risk nature of the business. 8216;8216;Many compare biotechnology to playing god and messing up with nature8230; what they don8217;t understand is that biotechnology can be very humane and eliminate unnecessary cruelty like killing animals for extracting animal insulin,8217;8217; she says.

Biocon is planning to launch its human insulin made in laboratories 8212; branded Insugen 8212; within the next few months and is selling statins 8212; a group of popular cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Born in Bangalore, Majumdar-Shaw went to the prestigious Bishop Cotton girls school and Mount Carmel college to study Zoology. She later flew to Ballarat College in Melbourne, specialising in malting and brewing technology and topping an an all-male class.

A regular in Bangalore8217;s social circuit, Majumdar-Shaw is also known to takes up civic issues. Like other Bangalore billionaires, Wipro head Azim Premji, and Murthy, she is trying to improve civic amenities like roads and cleanliness8212;even contributing over a crore to keep Bangalore clean.

Recently, she also came out in the open against the government move to reduce fees at the Indian Institute of Management IIM8212;that must have been at least some support to fellow Bangalorian IIM-Ahmedabad chairman Narayana Murthy.

Close friends say that behind all the seriousness of the biotech business, there lurks a prankster in Majumdar who still plays April Fool jokes on her friends. She recently called up a close friend to say she is joining politics. It turned out to be a prank, remembers a friend.

A fan of contemporary art8212; her collection includes the likes of M F Hussain and Anjolie Ela Menon8212;she spends most of her time at the office or reading up on the latest scientific developments. In 1989 Majumdar received a Padmashri for her pioneering work in biotechnology. A keen follower of golf, she makes it a point to swim on Sundays at her Banglaore home just next to her office. For someone who has made her wealth from health, it only makes sense that she keep fit.