- Vaccine king Cyrus Poonawalla saw his wealth grew at $15 billion the fastest among Indian billionaires and fifth fastest in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic
Vaccine king Cyrus Poonawalla ‘s wealth grew at $15 billion the fastest among Indian billionaires and fifth fastest in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic due to his company’s strong business potential, Serum Institute of India, according to a Hurun Research report.
As of May 31, Poonawalla has climbed 57 places to be the 86th richest person in the world on the back of a 25 percent increase in his net worth during the four months of the pandemic, the report said.
The unlisted company of the Pune-based entrepreneur is already the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer and the net worth has been helped by his business’ vaccine distribution and production potential, it added.
Serum recently signed an agreement with AstraZeneca to manufacture 1 billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine being produced by the University of Oxford.
Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani continues as the richest Indian to hold numero uno ranking. After sharp losses on the market rout in the first two months, the next two months saw a USD 18 billion surges in his fortune on the back of more than 1.69 lakh crore worth of deals struck by Reliance Industries in selling stakes in his telecom arm, she said.
Given the late surge, however, his wealth decreased by 1 percent compared to pre-COVID rates, it said.
Ambani saw a “V-shaped turnaround” in his fortune, whereby, it said, the network collapsed in the first two months and made up almost all the losses in the next two months.
Although the network is marginally lower, as of May 2020, Ambani climbed one place to become the eighth richest person in the world, it said.
Jeff Bezos remains at the top of the list of the world’s richest people with a 14% wealth increase of USD 160 billion in four months to May, led by Bill Gates at USD 100 billion (down 6%), Bernard Arnault at USD 89 billion (down 17%), Warren Buffet at USD 84 billion (down 18%), Mark Zuckerberg at USD 84 billion (unchanged), Steve Ballmer at 67 billion dollars (up 1 percent), and Amancio Ortega at 67 billion dollars (down 17 percent), it said.
Ambani ‘s wealth erosion is the smallest compared to other top-100 Indian billionaires, like HCL’s Shiv Nadar (16 percent down to USD 16 billion) and Gautam Adani and family (18 percent down to USD 14 billion), it said.
There are no Indians in the top-100 list except Ambani, Poonawalla, Adani, and Nadar.
From a sectoral perspective, coronavirus pandemic’s biggest winners seem to be online retailers, pharmaceuticals, home improvement retailers, as well as chocolate, soy sauce, and pork producers, it said.
Both the US and China have gained slightly when one looks at the top 100 owners of the property, although the growth of the Asian nation has been a bit stronger between the two, the statement said.
During the pandemic, the Indian stock market fell 20 percent and has made some gains lately, while the rupee has depreciated 5.6 percent, it said.
