New Delhi, April 2 -- Cyrus S Poonawalla, industrialist and founder of Serum Institute of India has recently set a record by buying the most expensive piece of modern Indian art - Raja Ravi Varma's painting Yashoda and Krishna. The painting was sold at the auction at Rs.167.2 crore ($18 million approx) after an intense bidding war at a Saffronart sale.

It surpassed the Rs.118 crore fetched by M. F. Husain's Untitled (Gram Yatra), which was bought last year by Delhi-based collector Kiran Nadar.

Speaking about the painting, Poonawalla said, "This national treasure deserves to be made available for public viewing periodically."

"And it will be my endeavour to facilitate this," he added.

Yashoda and Krishna, which was painted in in the 18...