BR Shetty NMC collapse traces the dramatic arc of Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty’s journey – from a young pharmacist arriving in Abu Dhabi with just Dh7 to building one of the Gulf’s largest healthcare and financial services empires, and then watching it unravel under the weight of hidden debt, allegations of misconduct, and multi-jurisdiction legal battles. Fifteen years after NMC’s London listing turned him into a symbol of UAE success, court rulings and investigations continue to define where his story stands today.
From small Abu Dhabi clinic to global healthcare giant
Shetty landed in Abu Dhabi in 1973 and, spotting a gap in private healthcare, opened New Medical Centre (NMC) in 1975 as a small clinic that steadily expanded into a nationwide hospital network. Over the next decades, he diversified into pharmaceuticals with Neopharma, remittances through UAE Exchange, and foreign exchange and travel via Finablr and Travelex, turning his name into a staple of UAE business life.
By the early 2000s, NMC was one of the UAE’s most trusted healthcare brands and UAE Exchange dominated remittance corridors, especially for Indian and South Asian expatriates. In 2012, NMC became the first UAE-based healthcare company to list on the London Stock Exchange with a valuation above $1 billion, later peaking over $10 billion and earning Shetty a spot on rich lists and multiple awards for business and philanthropy.
Red flags: Short-seller report and hidden debt
The first major warning sign appeared in December 2019 when US short-seller Muddy Waters Research released a report alleging NMC had inflated its cash balances and understated its debt, triggering a steep collapse in the share price and raising questions among investors and regulators. In March 2020, NMC’s board revealed more than $4 billion in previously undisclosed debt, shocking lenders across the UAE and beyond and triggering one of the region’s most complex restructuring efforts.
That same year, UAE Exchange suspended operations and Finablr, which had only recently listed in London, lurched toward insolvency. In April 2020, NMC Health was placed into administration in the UK, while dozens of banks – led by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank – pursued claims totalling more than $6 billion, transforming Shetty’s empire from a growth story into a sprawling financial and legal crisis.
Legal fallout and Shetty’s defence
Shetty, who was outside the UAE as the scandal unfolded, has consistently claimed he was unaware of the hidden borrowings, alleging he was misled by executives and that signatures on some guarantees and documents were forged. Authorities in India and the UAE froze many of his assets, while he launched counter-suits accusing former officials of fraud, forgery and unauthorised borrowing conducted in his name.
In 2024 and 2025, he sought to present himself as a victim of wrongdoing within his own companies, giving interviews in which he described feeling “betrayed by those I trusted” and expressing hope that a full investigation would clear his name and eventually allow him to return to the UAE. However, parallel court cases continued to move forward in multiple jurisdictions, testing those claims against documentary evidence and creditor allegations.
New court rulings deepen the troubles
In October 2025, a court in Dubai’s financial free zone ordered Shetty to pay about $46 million to India’s State Bank of India over a disputed personal guarantee he said he had not signed. The judge described his testimony as false and inconsistent, found the guarantee enforceable and held him liable, adding another major judgment to the post-collapse litigation record.
In November 2025, a separate ruling in Abu Dhabi’s financial centre granted NMC’s administrators the right to compel Bank of Baroda to disclose internal reports and suspicious transaction information related to alleged misconduct around NMC’s financing. That decision, made possible by updated UAE anti–money laundering rules, opens the door to bank records that were previously shielded from civil scrutiny and could shed further light on how the debt build-up and alleged irregularities were structured.
Where NMC and Shetty stand today
Under new ownership and management, NMC continues to operate hospitals and clinics across the UAE, with restructuring efforts focused on protecting patient care and salvaging viable assets rather than restoring the old shareholding structure. The brand still exists, but it is now decoupled from its original founder, who no longer has any operational role.
Shetty’s personal situation remains legally fraught, with creditor claims, enforcement actions and cross-border disputes still in play. His trajectory – from a Dh7 arrival to a $10 billion valuation and then to a maze of investigations and court orders – has become a case study in the risks of rapid expansion, opaque financing and concentrated trust in a tight executive circle. For many UAE residents who watched NMC grow from a modest Abu Dhabi clinic, it stands as a reminder that even the most admired business empires can be shaken when governance weaknesses, leverage and misconduct – proven or alleged – collide.
Gulf Repost unpacks the region’s biggest business stories, from spectacular rises and complex collapses to restructurings, court rulings and regulatory shifts. By tracing timelines, rulings and stakeholder fallout, Gulf Repost helps readers, professionals and investors understand how corporate decisions, governance failures and legal frameworks shape some of the Gulf’s most high-profile success stories and crises.
