What we do tomorrow is more important than what we did yesterday.
Patel was named the "Best Pharma Man of the year 2003" by the Foundation of Indian Industry and Economists in recognition of the growth of Cadila under his leadership. At that time, Patel predicted that Zydus Cadila would become the third-largest pharmaceutical company in India by 2005. However, the company's fortunes were reversed and Patel fell out of the list of richest Indians by 2005.
In August 2012, Patel, along with Dinesh Patel, the chairman of Sintex Industries, purchased a Challenger-604 jet.
In 2017, he became the President of FICCI He is the chairman of the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, IISER, Kolkata and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar; a member of the Board of Governors and also the chairman of the Finance Committee of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; Chairman of IIM Udaipur; member Governing Board of The Ahmedabad University, Chairman of School of Life Sciences, Ahmedabad University; member of the Board of Management of the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and executive chairman, vice President and trustee of the Gujarat Cancer Society and chairman of the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute.
