While Poonawalla cannot be held responsible for some of the issues that led to the vaccine rollout stalling — chief among them, India's massive outbreak — his detractors have questioned parts of his approach.
They point out Poonawalla hasn't delivered the number of jabs he initially promised, and they claim he hasn't been transparent about how he's been using all of the money he raised for the big vaccine push.
"There isn't much accountability for where the money he raised went," Malini Aisola, co-convenor of health sector watchdog All India Drug Action Network, told CNN Business.
In June last year, SII pledged it would make one billion doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for low and middle income countries, with 400 million doses ready by the end of 2020.
But by January 2021, the company had a stockpile of just 70 million doses. His critics weren't impressed, given the amount of capital he raised last year.