Ranjan Pai was born to Ramdas Pai who is a Padma Bhushan awardee 2011 and chancellor of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).^[5] 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.^[6]

Pai completed his graduation from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and his fellowship in Hospital Administration in the United States^[7][8]

Ranjan Pai began his career as the managing director of the Melaka Manipal Medical College in Malaysia.^[4][9] 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.^[10]