Ranjit Shahani is Country President responsible for the overall operations of the Novartis Group of Companies in India

A Mechanical Engineer from IIT Kanpur and MBA from JBIMS, Bombay, he started his career with ICI in India in their businesses of Fibres & Speciality chemicals.  Later, he rose to the position of General Manager with ICI / ZENECA U.K., overseeing their Asia Pacific and LatAm operations for their Petrochemicals and Plastics division. 

This was followed by a period as CEO at Roche Products Limited, after which he moved to Novartis in India in 1997, following the merger of Sandoz-Ciba.
 
Mr Shahani was President, Organisation of Pharmaceuticals Producers of India (OPPI) from 2001-2007, is Immediate Past President of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Past President, Swiss Business Forum, and was on the Council of the International Federation of Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA, Geneva).  He is a thought leader in the Pharmaceutical Industry and has been actively involved in lobbying for a strong Product Patent law in the country and Data Protection and liberalization of the price control mechanism for Pharmaceuticals.  He has also strongly canvassed for deterrent legislation against counterfeit drugs.