Ranjan Pai

Ranjan Pai is an Indian medical doctor, businessperson, founder and the chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG),^[2][3][4] which runs seven universities and twenty nine hospitals across the globe.^[5][6] As of November 2025, he is ranked 1305 in the list of the richest people in the world, with a net worth of US$2.8 billion.^[7]

Ranjan Pai was born to Ramdas Pai who is a Padma Bhushan awardee 2011 and chancellor of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).^[8] His grandfather, T. M. A. Pai (Tonse Madhava Ananth Pai), set up the Kasturba Medical College, the country’s first private, self-financed medical college in 1953.^[9]

Pai completed his graduation from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and his fellowship in Hospital Administration in the United States^[10][11]

Ranjan Pai began his career as the managing director of the Melaka Manipal Medical College in Malaysia.^[6][12] He initially planned to continue with the family’s not-for-profit education trust, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), but later changed his mind and joined MEMG’s business. He started MEMG in the year 2000 out of a rented house in Bengaluru with a capital of $200,000. Now the entity is valued at around $3 billion.^[13]