Mahima Datla, promoter and managing director of Biopharma company Biological E’s has emerged as the richest woman in the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Her fortune amounted to Rs.7,700 crore, according to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021 which was released recently.
Datla and his family, who are 231 on the IIFL Wealth Hurun India 2021 list, and 15th rank in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. K. Lakshmi Raju of NACL Industries, with a wealth of Rs 1, 000 crore, ranked 41 in the Telugu states. She is among the two richest women on the whole list.
In total, 69 individuals from Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana figure in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021, a group of individuals in the state with a fortune of Rs 1,000 crore or more. Their earnings were Rs. 3,79,200 crore. This is an increase of 54 per cent over the previous year. 13 new people have joined this list.
However, there are 21 people from the pharmaceutical sector. The list was compiled with people with a fortune of Rs 1,000 crore and above. Of these, 56 are from Hyderabad, four from Rangareddy and three from Visakhapatnam. As of September 15, the number of people with a fortune of over $ 1 billion had risen from 9 to 15 a year.
Murali Divi, the founder of Divis Laboratories, and his family topped the list with Rs. 79,000 crore. Another pharma company Hetero Group Chairman B Parthasaradhi Reddy stood second in the list with Rs. 26,100 crore worth assets.
So, who is Mahima Datla?
Mahima Datla holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from Webster University in the UK. Following this, she gained professional experience and joined the company in 2001.
Founded in 1948 by her grandfathers as Biological Products Pvt Ltd, the company started out by manufacturing Heparin, a drug to prevent blood clots. The company is working on four Covid-19 vaccine candidates, three of which it is co-developing with pharma companies.