BANGALORE: Two brothers from the city are the latest entrants into Forbes India’s list of 100 richest people in the country.
Dilip and Anand Surana, owners of Bangalore-based pharma company Micro Labs, are ranked 73 in the list with joint assets of `7,986.55 crore, according to the latest figures by Forbes.
Azim Premji of Wipro is another gainer and now occupies the third spot with net wealth of $16.4 billion, as against $13.8 billion earlier.
The founder of Micro Labs, G C Surana, started working as a pharmaceutical distributor in Bangalore. In 1973, he founded Micro Labs in Chennai. Sons Dilip and Anand took over the company which had seen rapid expansion in the 1980s with facilities in Hosur, Kumbalgodu and other towns. Dilip now serves as the chairman and managing director and looks after the domestic business while Anand is a company director and handles exports.
The company is ranked among the top 20 pharma companies in the country with a turnover of `2,500 crore and profits of `350 crore in 2013-14. It has become one of the top 5 pharma players in the diabetes sector in India.
The firm is also unique for still being owned entirely by a family. Rumors of a buyout a few years ago were denied by Dilip. Hailing from a village near Jodhpur in Rajasthan, the Surana family has become well known in the city for their charity work. The brothers run Surana College, a popular destination for under-graduate and post-graduate students.
The top 10 on the list are: Mukesh Ambani, Dilip Shanghvi, Azim Premji, Pallonji Mistry, Lakshmi Mittal, Hinduja brothers, Shiv Nadar, Godrej family, Kumar Birla and Sunil Mittal.
