Cyrus Poonawalla is an Indian businessman who is the chairman of the Poonawalla Group. The conglomerate includes the Serum Institute of India, an Indian biotech company known for making pediatric vaccines. It is considered one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers by number of doses produced and sold throughout the world. As per Forbes ranking in 2018, Poonawalla had a net worth of Rs. 73,000 crore and was ranked the seventh richest person in the country, and the 170th richest person in the world. He has received several honors throughout his life. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honor, by the Indian Government in 2005 for his contribution to the field of medicine. The same year, he was also given the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by Dr Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister of India. Recently, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Oxford.
