Cyrus Poonawalla
Indian businessman; founder and chairman of the Serum Institute of India
| Cyrus Poonawalla
| |
|---|---|
| Image | .jpg) Cyrus Poonawalla |
| Born | 11 May 1941 Pune, India |
| Nationality | India |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder of the Serum Institute of India |
| Children | Adar Poonawalla |
| Education | Pune University (BA; doctorate) |
Cyrus Soli Poonawalla (born 11 May 1941) is an Indian businessman. In 1966 he founded the Serum Institute of India in Pune, which it describes as the world's largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced and sold.[1][2] He and his family wholly own the company through Poonawalla Investments and Industries and related holdings. His son Adar Poonawalla is its chief executive.[2] He received the Padma Bhushan in 2022.[3] On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Cyrus Poonawalla 87th in the world (tied with Reinhold Würth and family), with an estimated net worth of US$27.33 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Vaccines.[4][5] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Cyrus Poonawalla 95th, at US$27 billion.[6]
Early life and education
Forbes gives his date and place of birth as 11 May 1941 in Pune. It says he is the son of a horse breeder and lists a bachelor's degree and a doctorate from Pune University.[4] Forbes also says he holds an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Oxford.[4]
Serum Institute of India
The Serum Institute says Poonawalla founded it in 1966 to make life-saving immunobiologicals that India was then importing at high prices. Its first products made the country self-sufficient in tetanus antitoxin and anti-snake-venom serum, and it later made DTP and MMR vaccines.[1] CareEdge Ratings records that the business was set up as a partnership in 1966 and became a public limited company on 22 May 1984.[2] The company says its vaccines are used in about 170 countries. It sells more than 1.5 billion doses a year, covering vaccines such as polio, BCG, hepatitis B, measles, pneumococcal and COVID-19.[1] In June 2024 Business Standard, carrying a Bloomberg report, put its annual capacity at about 3 billion doses. The report also covered the company's R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine.[7]
In June 2012 the institute made its first foreign acquisition, buying Bilthoven Biologicals from the Dutch government to gain inactivated polio vaccine technology.[1] CareEdge reported total operating income of ₹10,190 crore for 2022–23 and ₹9,549 crore for 2023–24. It said the wider Poonawalla group also has interests in stud farming, real estate, non-bank finance, aviation and pharmaceuticals.[2] During the COVID-19 pandemic the institute and Oxford's Jenner Institute worked together on the large-scale roll-out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. In India it was sold as Covishield.[8][4]
Other interests
Forbes says his holdings include a majority stake in the listed lender Poonawalla Fincorp and a stake in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Pune.[4]
Wealth
Forbes gives vaccines as the source of his wealth.[4][5]
Wealth history
Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 20 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2007. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.[6][4]
| Year | World's Billionaires rank | Net worth (US$ bn) |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 287 | 3.0 |
| 2008 | 307 | 3.5 |
| 2009 | 468 | 1.5 |
| 2010 | 488 | 2.0 |
| 2011 | 512 | 2.3 |
| 2012 | 401 | 2.9 |
| 2013 | 346 | 3.9 |
| 2014 | 295 | 4.9 |
| 2015 | 208 | 6.6 |
| 2016 | 133 | 8.5 |
| 2017 | 159 | 8.1 |
| 2018 | 170 | 9.1 |
| 2019 | 147 | 9.5 |
| 2020 | 165 | 8.2 |
| 2021 | 169 | 12.7 |
| 2022 | 56 | 24.3 |
| 2023 | 68 | 22.6 |
| 2024 | 90 | 21.3 |
| 2025 | 86 | 23.1 |
| 2026 | 95 | 27.0 |
Philanthropy
In December 2021 the University of Oxford announced a £50 million commitment from Serum Life Sciences, a company wholly owned by the Poonawalla family. The money would build the Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building, which will house the Jenner Institute's headquarters. Oxford said it was the university's largest ever gift for vaccine research.[8] Construction of the Cyrus Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building began in June 2025. It is designed for more than 400 researchers, and Oxford added his name to the Clarendon Arch, where it records its principal benefactors.[9]
Political activity
Factly, an Indian fact-checking site, reported in March 2024 that Election Commission data showed the Serum Institute gave ₹52.25 crore to the Prudent Electoral Trust in August 2022. The trust immediately passed the same amount to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Factly said the donation was not made through electoral bonds, contrary to social media posts.[10] No personal political office was found.
International and political links
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
Indian citizen and Padma Bhushan recipient (2022, trade and industry). In 2022 the Serum Institute made a corporate donation to the BJP through the Prudent Electoral Trust.[3][10]
Other international links
United Kingdom: his family's £50 million gift to the University of Oxford, and the institute's work with Oxford's Jenner Institute on the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.[8][9] Netherlands: the Serum Institute bought Bilthoven Biologicals from the Dutch state in 2012.[1]
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Serum Institute of India, About Us Serum Institute of India, undated (read 21 October 2026), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 CareEdge Ratings, Serum Institute of India Private Limited – rating rationale CARE Ratings Ltd, 13 January 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 President's Secretariat, Government of India, Notification No. 197-Pres/2022 (Padma Awards 2022) The Gazette of India: Extraordinary, 21 March 2022, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Forbes, Forbes profile record for Cyrus Poonawalla (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/cyrus-poonawalla/) Forbes, live record, read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Business Standard (Bloomberg), World's largest vaccine maker Serum Institute sees demand doubling in 5 yrs Business Standard, 11 June 2024, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 University of Oxford, The Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building to be established at Oxford University following £50m funding commitment from Serum Life Sciences University of Oxford, 15 December 2021, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 University of Oxford, Construction begins on state-of-the-art research facility University of Oxford, 27 June 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Factly, Serum Institute of India's donation to Prudent Electoral Trust is being attributed to its Electoral Bonds purchase Factly, 20 March 2024, accessed 21 October 2026.