Shetty's decision to step down follows a string of resignations months after the company was thrown into turmoil following questions raised over the group's finances. The resignations have included vice chairman Khalifa Butti Omeir Bin Yousef.

A bruising short-selling attack by Muddy Waters launched two months ago has seen NMC's market value fall to 1.6 billion pounds, down from its peak value of about 8.4 billion pounds in August 2018.

Here are ten facts about Indian billionaire Shetty.

* Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty was born in Kaup, Udupi in the state of Karnataka, India in 1942 and began his career as the vice chairman of the municipal council.

* Shetty, India's 42nd richest person in 2019 according to Forbes, used to work as a pharma salesman.

* Shetty has a net worth of $1.6 billion (1.23 billion pounds), according to Forbes.

* He moved to the UAE in 1973 with a clinical degree in pharmacy.

* Founded New Medical Centre (NMC) in 1975, the first healthcare company from the region to list on the London Stock Exchange in 2012.

* Shetty has also founded London-listed payments company Finablr and pharmaceutical manufacturer Neo Pharma.

* Shetty also owns healthcare firm BR Life, which has a presence in India, Nepal, Africa and the Gulf.

* Shetty owns the entire 100th floor of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper, according to Forbes.

* Shetty received his Honorary Doctorate from Middlesex University, Dubai and has four children. He is married to Chandrakumari Raghuram Shetty, who is the Medical Director of NMC.

* Shetty made an unsuccessful foray into the film-making business in 2017 - a $150 million adaptation of the epic Sanskrit poem the Mahabharata, a story of about 1.8 million words about a power struggle between two branches of a family in ancient India.

Source: BR Shetty's website, Forbes, Reuters stories

(Reporting by Samantha Machado and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru. Editing by Jane Merriman)