I-T Dept Raids Hetero Pharma Honchos' Premises, Days After Chairman Declared 58th Richest Man In India

The pharma major has recently tied up with Russian Direct Investment Fund to manufacture Covid vaccine Sputnik V in India

Hetero pharma. (Image: Twitter)

Hyderabad: Income Tax officials conducted searches on the premises of Hetero Drugs in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The officials carried out searches at the corporate office, production centre, and residences of the company's CEO and directors. 

Hetero, which has 36 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities worldwide, manufactures products for major therapeutic categories such as HIV/AIDS, oncology, cardiovascular, neurology, hepatitis, nephrology etc. Besides, the pharma major has recently tied up with Russian Direct Investment Fund to manufacture Covid vaccine Sputnik V in India.

Hetero Pharma recently made headlines after the Drug Controller General of India issued Emergency Use Authorisation for the generic version of Tocilizumab in India.

The income tax searches come days after Hetero Group Chairman B. Parthasaradhi Reddy was ranked second richest man from Hyderabad. Reddy is ranked 58th wealthiest man in the country, according to Hurun India Rich List 2021. Last year, the top pharma honcho was 81st richest in the country. His assets reportedly grew by 88 per cent in a year to Rs 26,100 crore, according to reports.

In the Hurun India Rich List 2021, industrialist Mukesh Ambani earned top spot for the 10th year in a row as the richest man in India, with an estimated net worth of $96.6 billion (Rs 7,18,000 crore), followed by industrialists Gautam Adani and Shiv Nadar who found themselves on second and third spots on the list, respectively.