India, April 2 -- An oil painting by the pioneering Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma was sold for Rs.167.2 crore at the Saffronart spring auction on Wednesday, April 1. Titled Yashoda and Krishna, it is the most expensive Indian painting ever sold at auction to date. The sale surpassed the record by Rs.49.2 crore, an increase of over 40 percent.

The painting was bought by Cyrus S Poonawalla, the founder and managing director of the Pune-headquartered Serum Institute of India. Here's everything you should know about the man who bought the most expensive Indian painting ever.

Dr Cyrus Poonawalla founded the Serum Institute of India in 1966 and built it into the world's largest vaccine maker. He was recognised as the 46th-richest person in t...