Adar Poonawalla’s super lucky turn

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Editor's note: Till just a year ago, the easiest place to find Adar Poonawalla was on page three of the Pune newspaper supplements. Though he ran the world’s largest vaccine manufacturing business, he was more likely to be seen in the company of Bollywood stars and was best known for an extravagance that only copious amounts of old money could afford. His father, Cyrus, consistently ranked among the top 15 billionaires in the country, even though the privately held Serum’s annual revenues of about $1 billion, or Rs 7,500 crore, didn’t qualify it to be among the top 100 businesses in the country. Today, Adar literally controls the pulse of the nation. His tweet to the US president is a matter of importance and a television interview where he asks for money from the government is presciently fruitful. As the second wave of COVID-19 infections ravages the nation, a new deal with the government is set to give Adar a bonanza both in terms of revenue and profits. If he supplies 100 million doses of vaccines it makes every month, Serum’s revenue …