The Reluctant Billionaire: How Dilip Shanghvi Became the Richest Self-Made Indian

Nominated for Tata Literature Live Awards and Shortlisted for Gaja Capital Best Business Book Prize. The book is an untold human story of an enterprise and its creator, Dilip Shanghvi, who raced ahead of Mukesh Ambani to become the richest Indian in 2015 Shanghvi is one of the most interesting and least understood business minds of India whose journey has been shrouded in mystery because of his reticence. The book reveals the riveting story of the fiercely intense personality that lies beneath his calm demeanour. Based on interviews with over 150 friends, family members, rivals, former aides and Shanghvi himself, it traces his transformation from a quiet, curious child working in his father’s small shop to an astute strategist, who built India’s largest pharma company, Sun Pharma, despite being untrained in science. The tale unravels his contrarian and controversial bets that made Sun a global force, and him a ‘turn-around’ artist. It is also about the friends and family Shanghvi started his company with, the hurt and emotional conflicts surrounding their separation, and how Shanghvi staked his closest relationships to professionalise Sun. This book is an extraordinary story of an ordinary man, who chooses to stay anti-famous. He would rather have his face unrecognised, his story untold. But at a time, when a billion dreams are simmering in an aspiring India, this tale is for everyone who has once had a secret dream, an insanely bold one.