Adar Poonawalla

Founded in 1966 by his father, Cyrus Poonawalla, it is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced.

Adar Poonawala is the son of Cyrus Poonawala, a Parsi (Zoroastrian).

He is married to Natasha Poonawalla and has two children.

In December 2023, Poonawalla purchased the most expensive property in London worth Rs 1446 Crore.

Adar Poonawalla was educated at The Bishop's School (Pune) and at the St Edmund's School Canterbury followed by the University of Westminster.

Adar Poonawalla (born 14 January 1981) is an Indian businessman.

He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India and Chairman of Poonawalla Fincorp.

Poonawalla joined the Serum Institute of India in 2001 after graduating from university.

Then exporting its products to 35 countries, Poonawalla concentrated on the company's international market, new products license and getting pre-qualified by the World Health Organization for supply to United Nations Agencies including UNICEF and PAHO.

In 2011, he became the CEO.

In 2012, he played a major role in the acquisition of Bilthoven Biologicals, a Netherlands-based government vaccine manufacturing company.

Poonawalla is a board member of the GAVI Alliance, the global vaccine alliance.

He initiated and launched in 2014; Serum Institute's oral polio vaccine, which became a bestseller for the company.

It was reported that he planned to expand the product portfolio to include vaccines for dengue, flu and cervical cancer during the same year.

Presently he is the CEO of Serum Institute of India.

On 31 May 2021, he was appointed as the chairman of Poonawalla Fincorp, after acquiring a 66% stake in the financial services company.

In an interview with The Times, Poonawalla declared that he left India for London because of threats demanding COVID-19 vaccines.

Poonawalla also said that he will start Covid vaccine production outside India in addition to the ongoing production in India.

He was provided with 'Y' category security by the Indian government as the threats were made public.

As of 2015, he has helped the company export its products to over 140 countries; 85 percent of its revenues are from overseas.

In 2020, SII announced that it would donate $66 million to the University of Oxford to fund the creation of the Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building.