At the Centricity Invictus Private Wealth Hurun Stars of Deccan 2026, the Deccan region’s leading entrepreneurs, business leaders, and visionaries came together for inspiring conversations on leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship, and legacy.
The evening also featured Dr. Cyrus S. Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India in conversation with Anas Rahman Junaid of Hurun India for a fireside chat titled “A Lifetime Saving Lifetimes”, reflecting on leadership, legacy, and building enterprises with lasting impact.
What Cyrus Poonawalla said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman of Serum Institute of India, discussed his journey from a horse-breeding family to founding Serum Institute with a capital of 5 lakhs, focusing on affordable vaccines as a philanthropic mission. He stated that multinationals exited the vaccine business in India because they couldn't compete with his low prices. Poonawalla confirmed that if he charged like peers, his revenue would at least double, and his personal wealth could be around $50 billion, but he chose not to list the company to maintain pricing freedom. He invests surplus cash in startups and growing companies, and gives away much more than CSR mandates, including personal donations to his Parsi community. He advised his grandson Cyrus to engage in the business early, maintain a human touch with staff, and stay focused, emphasizing philanthropy and legacy.
Key takeaways
Multinationals exited the vaccine business in India because they couldn't compete with Poonawalla's low prices, as they publicly stated.
If he charged like peers, his revenue would be at least double, and his personal wealth could be around $50 billion or more.
He launched hepatitis vaccine at 20 cents a dose, explaining how he could get away with it because he wasn't answerable to shareholders.
He advises his grandson Cyrus to join the business early (by age 21) and maintain a human touch with staff, as they will carry him through crises.
He gives away about 10 times more than his CSR quota, including from personal wealth to his Parsi community, fire temples, and priests.
0:12Having seen the world of the vaccine business over the last so many years, what would be your advice to Cyrus, which would be advice to every young generation and entrepreneur here?
0:50For everyone in this room, is there anything that we do not know about how you started which you haven't spoken to anyone and which you would like to share today?
5:56So how do you just keep up with what's happening?
7:37How do you look at philanthropy, and what is philanthropy to you?
10:39Having seen the world the way you built business over the last so many years, what would be your advice to Cyrus, which would be advice to every young generation and entrepreneur here?
Multinationals that were going to compete, they said, "This madman in Pune," this is the statement they made in the public forum, "We cannot compete with him, so we decided to walk out of the vaccine business in India."
Having seen the world of the vaccine business over the last so many years, what would be your advice to Cyrus, which would be advice to every young generation and entrepreneur here?
He should be very, very philanthropic and kind-hearted to the staff. Because of that, they will carry you through any limit in time of crisis. And I hope that he carries on the legacy that I've built up.
So, Doctor, I don't know if you can see the screen, but I'll read the screen. We've named this fireside chat as "A Lifetime Saving Lifetimes." So, I hope you understood the play here. So, I've known you for 13 years and it is such an honor to have known you and in many ways... Okay? Yeah, yeah, you go ahead. I think you can speak. I think it's all good. Known you many, many years. Sometimes, selfish to say, mentored by you as well many times whenever I'm stuck in some difficult decisions. For everyone in this room, is there anything that we do not know about how you started which you haven't spoken to anyone and which you would like to share today?
First of all, I'm overwhelmed with the flattering video which you made. I didn't know about it and I thank you for it, and I really appreciate the accolades that were bestowed upon me in that video. I came obviously from a horse-breeding family, which had no future in a socialist country like India. And I was always looking at some aspect of a business which would deal with the masses, which would have a touch of philanthropy, which came from both sides of my family, and which is engraved in my blood, and which we'll talk about later on. And so, this idea came to my father by a veterinary surgeon at our farm, that since you've got these discarded horses that you're giving away to Haffkine Institute, "Why don't you put up a small plant, process plant, and manufacture these much-needed life-saving drugs like anti-venom, snake venom serum, tetanus, and so on and so forth?" And therefore, I already had many other ideas which I gave up, and we adopted this, which is now obviously turned out to be a blockbuster product. And made the Serum Institute of India. We called it Serum Institute. Actually, it was a very small, small-scale industry started with the help of my father for a capital of only 5 lakhs. But I had thought of giving it a big name, which now the Government of India says that you've lost count of India, and you've gone globally, and so keep us in mind by giving affordable vaccines to the poor children who can't afford to pay like all the multinationals charging an arm and a leg for.
So, I was talking to your team today and they were saying if you were to charge the prices that were charged by your peers, your revenue would be at least three to four times more than the current revenue.
Yeah. Yes, at least double, I could say definitely. And my personal wealth would have been at least three times, probably 50 billion or even more, had I followed that commercial attitude that most other companies are doing. One of the reasons why I haven't gone listed is because I could be philanthropic and there would be nobody asking why I am charging less than what I should charge. In a public limited company, you can't do that. You're answerable to your shareholders. Here, I was asked this question when I launched hepatitis vaccine at 20 cents a dose by the press and a big public audience at that time, and they said, "How are you able to get away with this?" And my son was quite young at that time, and I said, "He's the only person who can question me about it." So, that's how the philosophy of the company is even till today extended. And it has had an upside also, I'll be honest with you. It is not only the philanthropy and all that has helped me. The upside was that the multinationals that were going to compete, they said, "This madman in Poona," this is the statement they made in a public forum, "We cannot compete with him, so we decided to walk out of the vaccine business in India."
7 more exchanges in this transcript
Sign in free to read the rest of this interview. No card required.
Poonawalla, C. (2026, August 28). A Lifetime Saving Lifetimes | Fireside Chat with Dr. Cyrus S. Poonawalla [Interview transcript]. HURUN INDIA. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1285873/
MLA
Cyrus Poonawalla. "A Lifetime Saving Lifetimes | Fireside Chat with Dr. Cyrus S. Poonawalla." HURUN INDIA, 28 Aug. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1285873/.
BibTeX
@misc{poonawalla2026_1285873,
author = {Cyrus Poonawalla},
title = {A Lifetime Saving Lifetimes | Fireside Chat with Dr. Cyrus S. Poonawalla},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, HURUN INDIA. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {aug},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1285873/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
