Cyrus Poonawalla on Conglomerate Building

Wikipedia identifies Cyrus Soli Poonawalla, born 11 May 1941 in a Pune-based Parsi family to parents Soli and Gool Poonawalla, as an Indian billionaire businessman and chairman-managing director of the Cyrus Poonawalla Group. The group includes Serum Institute of India — the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume — and Poonawalla Fincorp, a leading Indian NBFC.

In 2022, Poonawalla was ranked the 4th richest person in India on the Forbes India rich list with a net worth of $24.3 billion, and was ranked number 1 on the Hurun Global Healthcare Rich List 2022. By October 2024, Forbes listed Poonawalla and his family as the ninth-wealthiest in India with a net worth of $22.1 billion. The wealth trajectory — driven by COVID-era vaccine scale — places him as one of India's richest promoters.

Asian Racing Report frames Poonawalla as one of the world's richest men whose horses set him up to make an inconceivable fortune. The interview touches on his passion for breeding and racing, and what he calls the present threat to Indian racing under the Modi government's 28% betting tax on games of chance. The piece is the rare in-depth interview covering the horse-breeding origin of his vaccine business alongside his racing stewardship roles.

Poonawalla describes the COVID business windfall starkly: before COVID in 2019 he was India's 12th richest person (world rank 76th, fortune US$9.1 billion); by end-2022 he was India's fourth-richest, fortune expanded to US$21.5 billion and climbing — US$22.4 billion at the time of the interview. He frames Serum as one of the largest competitors to Pfizer and the world's biggest vaccine producer by number produced and sold.