Dilip Shanghvi, the common man turned Indian billionaire who is taking home a salary of ₹1

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Dilip Shanghvi, the common man turned Indian billionaire who is taking home a salary of ₹1
Credits: Sun Pharma/Twitter

  • Dilip Shanghvi is the founder of $3.6billion, Sun Pharma, India's most valuable pharma outfit.
  • He once dethroned Mukesh Ambani as India's richest man but is now witnessing a massive decline in his wealth.
  • Sanghvi, "unschooled in science and management" turned Sun Pharma a $3.6 billion multinational company
In 2015, the chairman of Sun Pharma Dilip Shanghvi had briefly dethroned Mukesh Ambani to become the country’s richest man. His response to that was, “I am not comfortable.”
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Though he doesn’t hold that position anymore, his net worth can buy him 138 million barrels of gold, according to Bloomberg billionaire index.

Shanghvi is one of the few billionaires who stay away from limelight and remain undocumented, as he doesn’t “like it”.




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​Dilip Shanghvi is the founder of $3.6billion, Sun Pharma, India's most valuable pharma company.

​Dilip Shanghvi is the founder of $3.6billion, Sun Pharma, India's most valuable pharma company.

Net Worth 2019: $7.6 Billion

At 63, Sanghvi, the founder of India's most valuable pharma outfit, Sun Pharma has a net worth of around $7.5 billion.

Sun Pharma which manufactures gynecology and oncology medicines amongst others, is one of India’s most companies with a revenue of $3.6 billion. It has operations across 150 countries and employs over 50,000 people.

​He once dethroned Mukesh Ambani as India's richest man, but witnessed a massive decline in his wealth

​He once dethroned Mukesh Ambani as India's richest man, but witnessed a massive decline in his wealth

Net Worth 2018: $12.8 Billion

In 2015, Dilip Sanghvi dethroned Mukesh Ambani, to become India's richest person. The wealth of Sun Pharma promoters was then at $19 billion. However, over the last four years, Shanghvi lost over 60% of his wealth owing to declining Sun Pharma valuation. Sun Pharma’s market cap declined more than 40% between 2015 and 2018 after US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning against Sun Pharma’s Halol plant over manufacturing lapses. According to Forbes, he had a net worth of $16.7 Billion in 2016, which reduced to $7.6 billion in 2019.

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​The Indian billionaire who took home a salary of ₹1 for FY 2019 to cut operational costs

​The Indian billionaire who took home a salary of ₹1 for FY 2019 to cut operational costs

Net Worth 2016: $16.7 Billion

Interestingly, he also took home a salary of merely ₹1 in FY 2019 to reduce operational costs of Sun Pharma -- a 99% cut from his usual salary of ₹3 crore.

​Shanghvi ‘unschooled in science and management’ turned Sun Pharma into a $3.6 billion multinational company

​Shanghvi ‘unschooled in science and management’ turned Sun Pharma into a $3.6 billion multinational company

Net Worth 2015: $20 Billion

Shanghvi never studied science or management and worked at a tiny shop in Dawa Bazar in Calcutta. He came from a middle class family in Amreli, Gujarat and pursued Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calcutta.

He worked as a pharmaceutical distributor and later started his own company at the age of 27. He took a ₹10,000 loan from his father, and two medicines for psychiatry to start the company.

Credits: Sun Pharma

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​He is known to have appeared in very few interviews and shuns press conferences

​He is known to have appeared in very few interviews and shuns press conferences

Net Worth 2013: $12.8 Billion

Shanghvi zealously guards his privacy, According to Soma Das, the only writer to write his biography says, he is among the least documented people in India because he is unwilling to share his story.

However, one of his quotes made it to Forbes which said, Our story is all about incremental growth. We're not looking for big leaps; we prefer small jumps.