New Delhi, Feb. 10 -- An unusually warm Sunday evening in suburban Mumbai set the stage for a rare coming together of India's pharmaceutical elite. In the ballroom of a five-star hotel, more than 1,500 industry leaders, policymakers, academics and entrepreneurs gathered to celebrate a book launch, but it soon turned into more than a moment to reflect on the past-it triggered debate about the future of one of India's most consequential industries.

The occasion was the launch of Made in India, a biography of Lupin's late founder Desh Bandhu Gupta, chronicling his life and, through it, the rise of the Indian pharmaceutical industry itself. Co-authored by TeamLease Services co-founder Manish Sabharwal and Mint columnist Sundeep Khanna over a...