Manaswini Mohapatra 
There are people who inherit businesses, and then there are people who inherit responsibility. Dr. Gourav Ralhan belongs to the latter category — an entrepreneur whose journey has been shaped not merely by commerce, but by grief, observation, instinct, reinvention, and an unusually deep understanding of human behaviour. His rise in Odisha’s business landscape did not emerge from startup incubators, management schools, or investor ecosystems. It emerged from emotional upheaval, relentless curiosity, and the ability to identify opportunity where most people only saw uncertainty.
Born into the family behind Premier Surgicals, Gourav grew up around enterprise, discipline, and customer trust. His father and Bade Papa had already spent decades building credibility in the medical and surgical trade. Yet despite coming from an established business family, his transition into entrepreneurship was far from comfortable. In 2002, Gourav lost his mother, Neelam — a loss that profoundly altered the course of his life. The emotional impact was devastating. He has often spoken about how the tragedy interrupted his academic rhythm and created a phase where he genuinely believed his education and direction in life had come to an end.
After eventually completing his graduation, he approached his father with the assumption that he would naturally join the family business. Instead, his father handed him a cheque of ₹15 lakh and asked him to build something independently. In 2003, that amount represented not just money, but expectation. There was no business model attached to it, no strategic roadmap, and no guarantees. Gourav rented a commercial space in a newly developing retail property but found himself paralysed by uncertainty. Developers wanted a premium brand to anchor the location. Friends questioned his choices. Self-doubt began taking over. At one point, overwhelmed by pressure, he admitted to his father that he did not think he could continue.
The advice he received was deceptively simple — travel across India before making any decision.
That journey became the real beginning of his entrepreneurial education. Gourav travelled through Chennai, Bengaluru, Mysore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata, observing consumer behaviour, retail environments, pricing psychology, colours, branding, and urban aspiration. Among all the experiences he encountered, one brand remained fixed in his memory — Baskin-Robbins. It was not merely the product that fascinated him, but the psychology behind the brand. At a time when a double scoop ice cream in Bhubaneswar cost approximately ₹20, Baskin-Robbins was selling a single scoop for ₹55. That difference revealed something powerful to him: customers were willing to spend significantly more for experience, perception, and emotional value.
In 2004, he brought Baskin-Robbins to Forum Mart in Bhubaneswar. Expectations were modest. Even representatives from the company reportedly believed that the outlet would struggle unless it achieved daily sales of ₹2,000. What followed surprised everyone. On the very first evening, the outlet generated nearly ₹18,000 in sales within six hours. The following day crossed ₹32,000. Within a short period, the store transformed into far more than a retail franchise. It became a cultural symbol in Bhubaneswar’s changing urban identity. For an entire generation in Odisha, Baskin-Robbins represented aspiration, celebration, and modern lifestyle. Remarkably, the Forum Mart outlet remained the highest-selling Baskin-Robbins outlet in India for nearly a decade.
The success changed Gourav’s public identity. He was no longer simply the son of an established business family; he became recognised as a businessman capable of understanding consumer aspiration before the market itself fully evolved. Yet what distinguished him most was his refusal to remain confined to a single successful venture. Instead of repeatedly replicating the same model, he began exploring sectors that appeared completely unrelated — healthcare systems, wellness infrastructure, sustainability, environmental engineering, public utility projects, and eventually law.
His exposure to medical systems through family business networks and healthcare collaborations gradually deepened his understanding of public health beyond conventional commerce. Over time, he worked closely with doctors, innovators, researchers, and institutional systems. This phase eventually led to the creation of Health on Top in 2021. The philosophy behind the organisation extended beyond healthcare alone. Gourav envisioned a platform that addressed both human wellbeing and environmental sustainability simultaneously.
The launch of Health on Top coincided with one of the most difficult periods in recent global history — the COVID-19 pandemic. While markets across India were witnessing panic-driven pricing and widespread profiteering in healthcare supplies, Health on Top adopted a sharply different approach. At a time when N95 masks were being sold at extraordinarily inflated prices, the company offered them at near-cost pricing. Basic masks that had become symbols of scarcity elsewhere were sold affordably. For Gourav, healthcare during a crisis could not become an instrument of exploitation. That principle became foundational to the organisation’s identity.
Today, Health on Top operates across multiple verticals including sustainable infrastructure, solar-wind hybrid systems, rainwater harvesting, automated sanitation systems, green terraces, public utility technologies, and environmental waste management solutions. The company has expanded beyond Odisha and entered procurement ecosystems in countries such as South Africa, Malaysia, and Zimbabwe. What began as a regional initiative has gradually evolved into a globally connected sustainability and healthcare platform originating from Bhubaneswar.
Yet perhaps the most unexpected chapter of Gourav Ralhan’s journey came much later in life. After already establishing himself as a successful entrepreneur, he decided to enter the legal profession. Under the mentorship of Bibhuti Pattjoshi, Gourav pursued legal studies and formally stepped away from several directorships and partnerships to train seriously in law. Today, he works in areas such as corporate law, partnership disputes, property law, and emerging frameworks related to GDPR, data privacy, and compliance systems.
This transition reveals an important aspect of his personality — success never appears to have reduced his curiosity. Instead, every achievement seems to push him toward newer areas of learning and responsibility. Throughout his life, one recurring influence remains impossible to ignore: his extraordinary respect for teachers, mentors, and parental figures. He frequently speaks about educators with the same emotional intensity with which he discusses business milestones. At one stage during his school years, he scored only 23% in his pre-board examinations. One of his teachers reportedly began waking up at 4 a.m. every day to personally tutor him before school hours. Weeks later, Gourav scored 78% in the final examinations. That experience left a permanent impression on him.
Even today, the emotional centre of his entrepreneurial universe remains his mother, Neelam. The umbrella identity behind several of his ventures continues through “Neelam’s Lifestyle,” a name that reflects not merely remembrance, but emotional continuity. For Gourav, business has never been only about financial growth. It has also been about gratitude, memory, purpose, and responsibility.
In an era dominated by polished startup language, valuation-driven narratives, and carefully manufactured founder personalities, Dr. Gourav Ralhan’s story feels strikingly human. It is emotional, instinctive, commercially sharp, spiritually grounded, and deeply shaped by lived experiences. His journey demonstrates that entrepreneurship is not always born inside boardrooms or business schools. Sometimes, it is born from grief, from observation, from travel, from mentorship, and from the quiet determination to create something meaningful in the face of
uncertainty.
