Sun Pharmaceutical's Shanghvi drops from top spot in Forbes India rich list

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries founder Dilip Shanghvi has dropped from the pinnacle on the Forbes India Rich List to the second spot, but plenty of pharmaceutical-related business leaders remain in the top tier.

The list shows industrialist Mukesh Ambani at the top spot with a net worth of $18.9 billion and Shanghvi at $18 billion, according to estimates published for the Forbes India October issue.

This reverses the order of estimates made in February that saw Shanghvi at the top spot just as his company was slated to take over rival Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories, with Forbes India pegging the potential net worth based on the transaction at $23.42 billion, just past Mukesh Ambani then at $21.2 billion.

Dilip Shanghvi

However, in August India's top drugmaker and fifth largest in generics globally saw net profit plunge 60% in the first quarter of its financial year as it absorbed costs from the Ranbaxy takeover, though Shanghvi outlined a three-year plan to get the combined company on track.

Also on the list was vaccine king Cyrus Poonawalla, who owns Serum Institute of India. He came in ninth with a net worth of $7.9 billion, moving up from his No. 14 position in 2014.

His company recently throttled back on plans to raise as much as $12 billion by offering equity in Asia's largest vaccine maker are on hold, for now, as global market volatility stands in the way of valuation, according to reports.

Others from the pharmaceutical sector on the list include Lupin's Desh Bandhu Gupta at 14th place with a net worth of $5.9 billion and Cadila Healthcare's Pankaj Patel at 21st place with a net worth of $4.1 billion.

Joining them in the billionaire club among others was Cipla's Yusuf Hamied at 28th place with a net worth of $3 billion, Aurobindo Pharma's Ramprasad Reddy at 30th place with a net worth of $2.8 billion and Glenmark's Glenn Saldanha at 50th place with a net worth of $2 billion.

Forbes India said the list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and India's regulatory agencies.

The ranking lists family fortunes, including those shared among extended families such as the Godrej and Bajaj families. Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of Sept. 11, Forbes India said, adding that private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.

- here's the Forbes list of India's 100 richest people and a related story