Quick Take
- Wockhardt’s Dr. Habil Khorakiwala pioneered India’s antibiotic research when global pharma chose to retreat.
- Dinesh Musalekar has grown Rishabh Group to serve customers across 100 countries and five continents.
- Harsh Tekriwal and Anjan Goswami show that Indian business excellence spans steel refractories and corporate fitness alike.
India business leaders are not defined by a single sector or city. They are defined by a quality that cuts across industries: the willingness to commit to a hard problem when easier options existed. Across pharmaceuticals, industrial automation, steel refractories, and corporate fitness, four Indian leaders are building enterprises that outlast market cycles, resist commoditisation, and create value through conviction. This is their story.
StartupFeed Insight
What connects these four India business leaders across pharma, industrial automation, refractory materials, and fitness is not sector — it is a shared refusal to take the conventional path. Dr. Khorakiwala continued antibiotic R&D when most of global pharma exited the field because margins were thin and timelines long. Musalekar turned around manufacturing operations in Poland, a geography few Indian executives have led. Tekriwal turned a product widely dismissed as a commodity into a retention-led loyalty business with 67% customer return rates. Goswami left a career in IT to build a fitness enterprise anchored on corporate wellness, a category that was informal and fragmented when he started. In every case, the insight was the same: a real problem was being badly served. That observation, followed by years of disciplined execution, is what separates these leaders from their peers. Conviction over comfort is the common thread — and India’s economy needs more of it. — StartupFeed Desk
What Makes These India Business Leaders Different?
| Leader | Organisation | Sector | Defining Bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Habil Khorakiwala | Wockhardt Group | Pharma & Biotech | 20+ years of antibiotic R&D when the world stepped back |
| Dinesh Musalekar | Rishabh Instruments Limited | Energy efficiency & industrial automation | Turning around overseas manufacturing in Poland |
| Harsh Tekriwal | Monolithisch India Limited | Steel refractories (ramming mass) | Turning a commodity product into a loyalty business |
| Anjan Goswami | Mynd Your Fitness | Corporate fitness & nutrition | Leaving IT to professionalise corporate wellness |
How Are These Leaders Shaping Their Industries?
Dr. Habil Khorakiwala: Founder and Chairman, Wockhardt Group
Dr. Habil Khorakiwala founded Wockhardt in 1967, transforming a 20-person over-the-counter drug maker into one of India’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology conglomerates with manufacturing facilities across India, the UK, Ireland, France, and the United States. He holds a Master’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Purdue University and completed an Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School. Purdue awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2010 — the first non-American in the institution’s 125-year history to receive that honour from the Pharmacy School.
The most defining chapter of his leadership may be the one that drew least attention for the longest time. When major global pharmaceutical companies gradually stepped away from antibiotic R&D through the 2000s and 2010s — citing long development timelines, uncertain commercial returns, and regulatory complexity — Wockhardt continued investing. Decades of sustained research produced Zaynich, a novel antibiotic with approximately 96.8% clinical cure rates in pivotal trials, and a pipeline of new drugs designed to combat antimicrobial resistance, one of global healthcare’s most urgent challenges.
Beyond Wockhardt, Dr. Khorakiwala has served as President of FICCI (2006-07), President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard University, and a member of the World Economic Forum. In 2017, he authored Odyssey of Courage, a chronicle of his entrepreneurial journey. In 2018, he founded the Wockhardt School of Courage, a mentorship programme for young entrepreneurs built on the principles drawn from that journey.
Dinesh Musalekar: CEO and Whole Time Director, Rishabh Instruments Limited
Dinesh Musalekar has led Rishabh Instruments Limited — a publicly listed global enterprise in energy efficiency and industrial automation — for over a decade since joining in January 2014. The Nashik-headquartered company, founded by Narendra Joharimal Goliya in 1985, manufactures test and measuring instruments, protection relays, energy management systems, and industrial control products. It operates across 100 countries and five continents, with annual revenues of approximately Rs 701 Cr as of FY24.
Musalekar’s most visible achievement has been the turnaround of Lumel, Rishabh’s manufacturing operation in Zielona Góra, Poland — a complex, cross-cultural leadership challenge that drew recognition from Polish civic and business institutions. He received the Gold Medal from the Mayor of Zielona Góra, the Indian Achievers Award for Business Leadership from the Ambassador of India to Poland, the Personality of the Year title from Polska Press Group, and the Exemplary Leadership Award from the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
At group level, Musalekar focuses on building the next generation of leaders, creating cross-company synergies in product development, sales, marketing, and operations. In Q1 FY26, Rishabh reported consolidated revenues of Rs 1,903 Mn, with EBITDA margins expanding by 950 basis points year on year to 15.9%.
Harsh Tekriwal: Managing Director, Monolithisch India Limited
Harsh Tekriwal leads Monolithisch India Limited, an NSE Emerge-listed manufacturer of premixed ramming mass — a refractory material used in induction furnaces in India’s secondary steel industry. Established in 2018 as part of the Mineral Group and headquartered in Ranchi, Monolithisch went public in July 2024, with its IPO oversubscribed 183 times. Q3 FY26 was the company’s strongest quarter to date, with revenue, EBITDA, and PAT growing 43%, 50%, and 54% respectively. The company has set FY26 revenue guidance of Rs 140-150 Cr.
The business challenge Tekriwal has consistently navigated is the perception of ramming mass as a commodity. His response has been to treat product consistency and formulation precision as a brand differentiator — a playbook borrowed from FMCG rather than industrial manufacturing. The result: 67% customer retention over six years, a metric that undercuts the commodity narrative decisively.
“Ramming mass may appear to be a commodity, but our experience proves otherwise. Much like how brands thrive in competitive FMCG categories, we differentiate ourselves through proprietary product formulations, consistency, and decades of process optimisation.” — Harsh Tekriwal, Managing Director, Monolithisch India Limited
Monolithisch has also moved on acquisitions, buying Mineral India to consolidate its ramming mass portfolio and strengthen manufacturing reach. Capacity expansion is underway to reach 5,74,000 tonnes by FY26 end.
Anjan Goswami: Founder, Mynd Your Fitness
Anjan Goswami founded Mynd Your Fitness (MYF) in August 2014 after more than 12 years in the IT industry as a Solution Architect and Consultant for Managed Services. A state and national-level sportsperson in lawn tennis, cricket, swimming, and long-distance running, Goswami applied his deep understanding of performance and recovery to build a fitness and nutrition enterprise serving both individual and corporate clients across India and internationally.
The pivot from IT to fitness was not a casual career change. Goswami brought a systems-thinking approach — shaped by years of designing managed service solutions for enterprises — to a category that had historically operated on informal, trainer-to-client relationships. Mynd Your Fitness structures fitness as a managed wellness programme for organisations, offering consulting alongside training, and tracking outcomes the way a technology project tracks deliverables. The company has since expanded its team with specialists in marketing, event management, and certified training across multiple disciplines.
What’s Next
The four India business leaders profiled here operate in sectors as different as antibiotics and abdominals. But each is at a stage where scale and visibility converge. Watch for Monolithisch India’s next capacity milestone and acquisition strategy in FY27. Watch for Wockhardt’s Zaynich commercial launch timeline in India and the US. Watch for Rishabh Instruments’ continued international expansion and margin improvement story. And watch for Mynd Your Fitness as corporate wellness becomes a boardroom-level priority for Indian organisations navigating post-pandemic workforce dynamics.
What do these four have in common beyond their industries? They stayed in the room when the conventional choice was to leave it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are India’s business leaders redefining excellence in 2026?
Among the India business leaders redefining business excellence in 2026 are Dr. Habil Khorakiwala, Founder and Chairman of Wockhardt Group, who has led India’s most sustained antibiotic research programme across two decades; Dinesh Musalekar, CEO and Whole Time Director of Rishabh Instruments Limited, who has built a global industrial automation enterprise spanning 100 countries; Harsh Tekriwal, Managing Director of Monolithisch India Limited, who has listed a steel refractory startup and achieved 67% customer retention in a commodity market; and Anjan Goswami, Founder of Mynd Your Fitness, who transitioned from IT to pioneer structured corporate wellness in India.
What is Wockhardt and what has Dr. Habil Khorakiwala built?
Wockhardt is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company founded by Dr. Habil Khorakiwala in 1967. Starting with 20 employees and a focus on over-the-counter drugs, Dr. Khorakiwala grew Wockhardt into a global enterprise with manufacturing facilities in India, the UK, Ireland, France, and the United States. The company’s most significant recent milestone is Zaynich, a novel antibiotic developed after more than two decades of R&D, showing approximately 96.8% clinical cure rates in pivotal trials — a result of sustained investment made when most global pharma companies had exited antibiotic R&D.
What does Monolithisch India do and who leads it?
Monolithisch India Limited is an NSE Emerge-listed manufacturer of premixed ramming mass, a refractory material used in the induction furnaces of India’s secondary steel industry. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Ranchi, the company is led by Harsh Tekriwal as Managing Director. Monolithisch’s July 2024 IPO was oversubscribed 183 times. Q3 FY26 marked its strongest quarter with revenue, EBITDA, and PAT growing 43%, 50%, and 54% respectively, and the company has set FY26 revenue guidance of Rs 140-150 Cr.
