'No plans to hang up my boots just yet': Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw clarifies after naming niece as Biocon successor

Biocon Founder and Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Tuesday clarified that she has no immediate plans to step down from her role.

In a post shared on X, she said "Claire will transition into my role at the right time so not planning to hang up my boots just yet!! "

Her statement came after reports said that she had formally identified her niece Claire Mazumdar as the future successor to lead the biotechnology company.

On why she saw Claire as her successor, Mazumdar-Shaw said her niece has proved to her that she can run a company.

Speaking to Fortune India, she said: “I am the sole owner of Biocon, and I need to make sure that I put it in good hands. I have seen my niece Claire as my successor, because I think she has proved to me that she can run a company."

Daughter of Mazumdar-Shaw's brother Ravi Mazumdar, 37-year-old Claire Mazumdar founded Boston-based Bicara Therapeutics in 2018, a clinical stage cancer therapy company. She led it to a Nasdaq listing in 2024.

Ravi Mazumdar is a non-executive director at Biocon. Claire also sits on the boards of Relay Therapeutics and Noora Health.

A graduate in Biological Engineering from MIT, Claire is also both an MBA and a PhD in cancer biology from Stanford University.

Mazumdar-Shaw, the face of the Indian biotechnology industry, had founded Biocon in 1978 in a garage in Bengaluru with Rs 10,000 and built it into India's largest biotechnology company over four decades.