Cyrus S. Poonawalla


Cyrus S. Poonawalla is an Indian businessman, the chairman of Poonawalla Group, which includes Serum Institute of India, the Indian biotech company that manufactures paediatric vaccines. Serum Institute exports vaccines to over 165 countries and one out of every two children in the world was vaccinated by a vaccine of Serum Institute of India. Hurun Global Rich List - 2019 listed Dr. Poonawalla as the 4th richest person in India and 100th in the world with a net worth of $ 13 billion.

Education and career

According to Forbes June 2020 rankings, Poonawalla's net worth is $11.4 billion and he is ranked the 7th richest person in India and the 165th richest person in the world. He attended The Bishop's School in Pune, and later graduated from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, University of Pune, in 1966.

Family

Poonawalla was married to Villoo Poonawalla, who passed away in 2010. They have a son, Adar, who currently works as the CEO of Serum Institute of India. Through Adar he has two grandsons, Cyrus & Darius.

Awards

He was awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of medicine, by the Government of India in 2005. He also received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 On 26 June 2019, Poonawalla was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Oxford.

Philanthropy

In May 2019 it was reported that Poonawalla, in partnership with :uk:Коен Наум Якубович|Naum Koen, has proposed supplying Ukraine with 100 thousand doses of measles vaccine for free vaccination.