Shanghvi springs a surprise with payments bank bid

Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi, India's second richest person and managing director of Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries, the country's largest pharmaceutical company, seems to have a habit of throwing surprises.

Shanghvi, son of a local pharmaceutical distributor, has applied for a payments bank licence. Shanghvi has applied and would be investing in his personal capacity if he eventually gets the licence from the banking regulator.

Shanghvi's flagship firm, is at the forefront of his business, with record profits and growth. He had toppled Lakshmi Mittal last year to become the second richest Indian after Mukesh Ambani, with a net worth of about $18 billion, according to Forbes.

People close to Shanghvi reveal he is known to make surprising moves both inside and outside the pharma industry. The latest move to apply for a payments bank licence certainly tops the list as there may not be a direct connection between the business of pharma and payments banks.

Shanghvi's investment bets usually have been meticulously placed since he transformed Sun from a pharmaceutical start-up with sales of $0.02 million in 1983 to become the largest drug manufacturer in the country, with market capitalisation of Rs 1.98 lakh-crore in a little more than three decades.

While Shanghvi-led Sun Pharma is inching closer towards closing the $4-billion merger with ailing Ranbaxy, the industry was surprised as to why one of the most successful companies in the sector chose to buy out an ailing pharma company.