NEW DELHI — Co-founder of Fortis Healthcare Shivinder Mohan Singh has decided to step down from his role as Executive Vice-Chairman of the multi-crore enterprise he owns with his older brother Malvinder Mohan Singh. The 40-year-old is giving it up to do ‘seva‘ (service) at Dera Radha Soami Satsang Beas headquartered near Amritsar.

“Having spent almost two decades setting up and running Fortis, our mission of saving and enriching lives is an integral part of my being,” he said in a statement released on Wednesday. “Over time this has inspired me to do more direct service and give back to society a little of what I have received in abundance.”

Shivinder will become the Non-Executive Vice-Chairman with effect from January next year, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

He said that he had requested to do seva and felt fortunate to be accepted. He is expected to move to Dera in Beas following the transition of his responsibilities at Fortis.

His older brother and Fortis Executive Chairman Malvinder Singh said that he supported the decision. “It is not always that one gets to commit oneself in the service of the society and I am delighted that Shivinder is taking this step at this phase of his life,” he said, acknowledging Shivinder’s tremendous contribution to the creation and evolution of Fortis.

The brothers founded Fortis Healthcare in the late 1990s. They also own Religare Enterprises Ltd, Super Religare Laboratories Ltd and Religare Technologies Ltd. In 2008, they sold their stake in Ranbaxy to Japanese drug major Daiichi Sankyo. They were ranked 63rd on the Forbes’s list of richest Indian billionaires this year. As of today, the net worth of the two brothers is $1.81 billion (Rs 11, 987 crores).

Shivinder completed his MBA in health sector management at the Duke University Business School in USA. He studied in India’s premier education institutes, doing his schooling in The Doon School and completing his undergraduate degree in mathematics from St Stephens College.

The Fortis Healthcare chain comprise hospitals, diagnostics and day care speciality facilities. Currently, the company operates its healthcare delivery services in India, Dubai, Mauritius and Sri Lanka with 54 healthcare facilities (including projects under development), approximately 10,000 potential beds and 260 diagnostic centres.

(with PTI inputs)