From billionaire to court battles: Rise and fall of NMC founder B.R. Shetty

Dubai: For decades, Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty was one of the UAE’s best-known business names — a symbol of ambition, opportunity, and success.

This week, his story took another turn. Dubai’s DIFC Court ordered the Indian-born founder of NMC Health to pay $46 million to an Indian bank over unpaid guarantees linked to his once-sprawling group of companies.

It’s the latest chapter in a years-long saga that began with one of the UAE’s most inspiring business journeys — and spiraled into one of its most dramatic corporate collapses.

Here’s a look at how it all unfolded.

B.R. Shetty arrived in Abu Dhabi in 1973 with just Dh7 in his pocket. A trained pharmacist from Udupi, India, he spotted a gap in the UAE’s private healthcare sector.

In 1975, he opened the New Medical Centre (NMC) — a small clinic that would grow into one of the UAE’s largest hospital groups. Over the years, Shetty expanded into pharmaceuticals through Neopharma, money transfers with UAE Exchange, and foreign exchange and travel services via Finablr and Travelex.

By the early 2000s, his companies were household names. NMC became the go-to hospital network for UAE residents, while UAE Exchange became synonymous with remittances.

In 2012, NMC became the first UAE-based healthcare company to list on the London Stock Exchange, valued at over $1 billion.

At its peak, NMC was worth more than $10 billion, and Shetty was celebrated as one of the Gulf’s most successful entrepreneurs, making it to the Forbes list then.

He was honored with multiple awards, including recognition from the Government of India and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce for his contributions to business and philanthropy.

In December 2019, a report by Muddy Waters Research, a U.S.-based short seller, alleged that NMC had inflated its cash balances and understated debt levels.

The report sent NMC’s share price into a freefall, erasing billions in market value. Investors and regulators began asking questions.

By March 2020, NMC’s board revealed over $4 billion in hidden debt — a discovery that shook financial institutions across the UAE and beyond.

That same year, UAE Exchange suspended operations, and Finablr — which had gone public in London just months earlier — faced insolvency.

In April 2020, NMC Health entered administration in the UK. Dozens of banks launched legal actions to recover billions in loans.

B.R. Shetty, then outside the UAE, maintained that he had been unaware of the hidden debts, claiming he was misled by executives within his group.

Shetty’s assets were frozen in both India and the UAE. He filed lawsuits in Indian and UAE courts, alleging fraud and forgery by former company officials.

During this period, NMC’s creditors — led by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) — pursued claims exceeding $6 billion.

Meanwhile, UAE authorities worked to restructure NMC’s operations under new ownership to protect jobs and patient care.

After several years in India, Shetty began cooperating with ongoing investigations. In interviews, he described himself as “betrayed by those I trusted” and expressed hope of returning to the UAE once legal proceedings concluded.

“I built my businesses with integrity and hard work,” he said in an earlier interview. “I believe truth will prevail.”

The DIFC Court in Dubai ordering Shetty to pay $46 million to an Indian bank was the latest of several creditor-related rulings connected to the fallout from NMC’s collapse.

The court found him liable for guarantees issued before the company’s financial troubles came to light.

NMC Health, now under new ownership, continues to operate hospitals and clinics across the UAE, though Shetty himself is no longer involved.

While NMC has stabilized under its new management, Shetty’s personal legal battles continue across multiple jurisdictions.

His story — from the early days of UAE’s healthcare boom to the unraveling of a global business empire — remains one of the country’s most closely watched corporate sagas.

For many UAE residents, especially those who remember NMC’s early days, it’s a reminder of how ambition, expansion, and trust can shape — and shake — even the biggest business empires.