Billionaire healthcare honcho quits, to move to spirituality

New Delhi: Fortis Healthcare Executive Vice-Chairman Shivinder Mohan Singh will be stepping down from his position to join a philosophical and spiritual organisation Radha Soami Satsang Beas headquartered near Amritsar. Singh has decided to give up the boardroom for community service.

According to the company's statement, Singh, who is the co-founder of the healthcare chain will become the Non-Executive Vice-Chairman with effect from 1 January, 2016.

Speaking to CNN IBN's Archana Shukla, Shivinder Singh said, "To me I guess the our personal journey took us to healthcare where we have been involved for more than 2 decades and I find a lot of linkage between the two. At the end of the day we at Fortis serve people who come to us in the time of need. The only difference that we do at Fortis and what I'm going to do is the role and the recognition that I get with the corporate role. I believe it is the right time for what I want to do for myself after having done what was right for Fortis."

The Singh brothers together own 71.3% in Fortis Healthcare valued nearly 5,630 crore and almost 51% stake in Religare Enterprises valued at 2,690 crore. They've also had their share of controversies dating back seven years ago during their sale of Ranbaxy to japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo and the alleged cover up of quality malpractices at the pharma firm. This eventually had forced Daiichi to sell of Ranbaxy to Sun Pharma in 2014.

The two brothers, however, focused entirely on building the hospital entity Fortis where Shivinder was a key business driver. Fortis has now brought back Bhavdeep Singh as their CEO, who was heading the hospital chain between 2009 and 2011 before quitting to join anotehr healthcare company.

Chairman of Fortis Healthcare Malvinder Mohan Singh has extended his wishes for Shivinder Singh. He said, "Shivinder had his goals and Fortis will help him move to his calling."

An alumnus of Doon School and Dellhi's St. Stephen's College, Shivinder Singh holds an MBA degree from the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, USA. Malvinder and Shivinder Singh were ranked 35th on the Forbes's list of richest Indian billionaires in 2015.