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This Indian Pharma Tycoon Lost $14 Billion in Just Two Years

Once India’s richest person, he recently slipped to No. 6 with his fortune dropping $14.1 billion 

This Indian Pharma Tycoon Lost $14 Billion in Just Two Years
Dilip Shanghvi, chairman of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., poses during an interview at the company’s headquarters in Mumbai. (Photographer: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Dilip Shanghvi’s shrinking fortune has become one of the most visible casualties of the troubles hitting India’s generic drug industry. Once India’s richest person, he recently slipped to No. 6 with his fortune dropping $14.1 billion from its peak of about two years ago. 

The founder and head of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has seen his net worth fall to $11.1 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as shares of India’s largest drug maker tumbled 56 percent from its all-time high in April 2015. The drop intensified last month after a quarterly earnings report showed the twin headwinds from out of the U.S. that have been hitting India’s drug makers the last few years only worsened for Sun. 

India’s sprawling generic drug industry has come under increased scrutiny as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration steps up inspections of approved overseas manufacturers, the largest concentration of which are in the Asian nation. The FDA also authorized a record number of new generic drugs last year, unleashing a flood of competition that has combined with consolidation among the biggest U.S. buyers of generics to force down prices in the world’s largest drug market.

Meanwhile, a key Sun Pharma plant in the Western Indian state of Gujarat was caught up in the regulator’s inspection blitz with the FDA barring new product approvals from the facility until its concerns are addressed. After nearly a year of remediation, the Halol facility was reinspected last year, resulting in a new list of issues. The company said recently it now assumes there will be no new approvals from the plant this year. The U.S. is Sun Pharma’s largest market.

This Indian Pharma Tycoon Lost $14 Billion in Just Two Years

A Sun Pharma spokesman declined to comment on the company’s share price and Shanghvi’s net worth. The company’s shares rose 1.4 percent to 511.6 rupees at 2:26 p.m. in Mumbai.

The sanctioned plant and competition combined last quarter to shrink sales 6.6 percent in the three months ended March 31. The slide prompted Shanghvi to warn in a conference call that the pressure shows no sign of letting up, and could drive Sun’s first annual sales decline in eight years. “There is a new normal that is getting established,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Altstedter in Mumbai at aaltstedter@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anjali Cordeiro at acordeiro2@bloomberg.net, Robert Olsen, Candice Zachariahs