Hinduja Group is an Indian transnational
conglomerate. The group is present in eleven sectors including
automotive,
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
and
specialty chemicals
Speciality chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products which provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agr ...
,
banking
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
and
finance
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
, IT and ITeS,
cyber security
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
,
healthcare
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
,
trading
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchan ...
,
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
project development,
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
and
entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...
, power, and
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
. The Hinduja brothers have around 100 billion dollars of assets around the world. The Hinduja family has around 50 billion dollars of assets in America. The current (2022) net worth of the Hinduja brothers is 32 billion dollars.
History
The company was founded in 1914 by
Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, who was from a
Sindhi family based in India. Initially operating in Shikapur (in modern-day Pakistan) and
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, India, he set up the company's first international operation in Iran in 1919. The headquarters of the group remained in Iran until 1979, when the
Islamic Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
forced it to move to Europe.
Group Chairman
Srichand Hinduja and his brother
Gopichand, also Co-Chairman, moved to London in 1979 to develop the export business; the third brother
Prakash manages the group's operations in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, Switzerland while the youngest brother, Ashok, oversees the Indian interests.
The group employs over 200,000 people and has offices in many major cities around the world including in India.
[ In 2017, Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja were described as the wealthiest men in Britain with an estimated wealth of £16.2 billion in the ''Sunday Times'' Rich List 2017.
In 2015, at ]The Asian Awards
The Asian Awards is an annual award ceremony for the global Asian community which takes place in the United Kingdom, with 14 categories that include business, philanthropy, entertainment, culture and sport. Nominees are selected by an independen ...
, the Hinduja brothers were honoured with the Business Leader of the Year Award. Ashok Hinduja was felicitated with the ABLF Global Asian Award at the UAE Government-backed Asian Business Leadership Forum in 2017. OneOTT Intertainment Limited (OIL), the Media Vertical arm of Hinduja Group, was awarded the 2019 Innovation Leaders award by Telecomlead.com.
Hinduja Group companies
* Hinduja Housing Finance Ltd,..
* Ashok Leyland
Ashok Leyland is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturer, headquartered in Chennai. It is owned by the Hinduja Group. It was founded in 1948 as Ashok Motors and became Ashok Leyland in the year 1955. Ashok Leyland is the second-most ...
** Optare
Switch Mobility (originally called Optare) is an English bus manufacturer based in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Indian company Ashok Leyland. The company would be responsible for the EV operations of the group with ...
* Ashok Leyland Foundries – a division of Ashok Leyland, also known as Hinduja Foundries
* P.D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre
The P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre is a multi-specialty, tertiary-care hospital in Mumbai, India. It was founded in 1951 by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital, the m ...
* P.D. Hinduja Sindhi Hospital Bangalore
PD, P.D., or Pd may refer to:
Arts and media
* People's Democracy (newspaper), ''People's Democracy'' (newspaper), weekly organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
* ''The Plain Dealer'', a Cleveland, Ohio, US newspaper
* Post Diaspora, a t ...
* Hinduja Healthcare Limited
Hinduja Healthcare Limited is a business vertical and philanthropic arm of London-based Hinduja Group. It owns and operates the Hinduja Hospital and Hinduja Healthcare Surgical, both located in Mumbai. Its Chief Executive Officer is Gautam Kh ...
* Hinduja Bank (Switzerland) Ltd (formerly Amas Bank)
* IndusInd Bank
IndusInd Bank Limited is an Indian financial services headquartered in Mumbai (Maharashtra). The bank offers commercial, transactional and electronic banking products and services. IndusInd Bank was inaugurated in April 1994 by then Union Financ ...
* Hinduja Leyland Finance Ltd
* Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd
* GOCL Corporation Ltd
* Gulf Oil International Ltd
* Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited
* Quaker-Houghton International Ltd
* Gulf Oil Middle East Ltd
* Hinduja National Power Corporation Ltd
* Hinduja Renewables Energy Private Ltd
* Hinduja Realty Ventures Ltd
* Hinduja Group India Limited
* KPB Hinduja College of Commerce
* NXTDIGITAL Ltd (formerly Hinduja Ventures Ltd) – includes Nxtdigital Hits, OneOTT iNtertainment Ltd, INE, and INDigital
* Cyqurex Systems Private Limited
* British Metal Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd
* Hinduja Investments and Project Services Ltd
Controversies
Bofors scandal
Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash Hinduja were connected with the investigation into the Bofors scandal
The Bofors scandal was a major weapons-contract political scandal that occurred between India and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s, initiated by Indian National Congress politicians and implicating the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, a ...
, in which Swedish firm Bofors
AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years.
History
Located in ...
was alleged to have paid illegal bribes to government officials and politicians in connection with the 1.3 billion sale of 400 howitzers
A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like oth ...
to the Indian Government in 1986. The three brothers were charged by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...
in October 2000, but in 2005 the High Court in Delhi threw out all charges against them, citing a lack of evidence and saying that documents central to the prosecution case were "useless and dubious" since their provenance could not be verified. Judge RS Sodhi said: "I must express my disapproval that 14 years of trial and of public money was spent on the case. It has caused huge economical, emotional, professional and personal loss to the Hindujas."
2001 Hinduja affair
In January 2001, it was revealed that UK government Minister Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...
had telephoned Home Office minister Mike O'Brien on behalf of Srichand Hinduja, who was at the time seeking British citizenship, and whose family firm was to become the main sponsor of the "Faith Zone" in the Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...
. Consequently, on 24 January 2001 Mandelson resigned from the Government for a second time, insisting he had done nothing wrong. An independent enquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond came to the conclusion that neither Mandelson nor anyone else had acted improperly.
In January 2001, immigration minister Barbara Roche
Barbara Maureen Roche (; born 13 April 1954) is a British Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey and Wood Green from 1992 until 2005, when she lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats, despite having enjoyed a major ...
revealed in a written Commons reply that Keith Vaz
Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz (born 26 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East for 32 years, from 1987 to 2019. He was the British Parliament's longest-serving Brit ...
, Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for Leicester East
Leicester East is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since December 2019 by Claudia Webbe, who was ele ...
and at the time a Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
minister, and other MPs, had also contacted the Home Office about the Hinduja brothers, saying that Vaz had made inquiries about when a decision on their application for citizenship could be expected.
On 25 January, Vaz became the focus of Opposition questions about the Hinduja affair and many parliamentary questions were tabled, demanding that he fully disclose his role. Vaz said via a Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
spokesman that he would be "fully prepared" to answer questions put to him by Sir Anthony Hammond QC who had been asked by the Prime Minister to carry out an inquiry into the affair. Vaz said that he had known the Hinduja brothers for some time; he had been present when the charitable Hinduja Foundation was set up in 1993, and had also delivered a speech in 1998 when the brothers invited Tony and Cherie Blair
Cherie, Lady Blair, (; born 23 September 1954), also known professionally as Cherie Booth, is an English barrister and writer. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Tony Blair.
Early life and education
Booth ...
to a Diwali
Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...
celebration.
On 26 January 2001, Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
was accused of prejudicing the independent inquiry into the Hinduja passport affair, after he declared that Keith Vaz had not done "anything wrong". On the same day, Vaz told reporters that they would "regret" their behaviour once the facts of the case were revealed. "Some of you are going to look very foolish when this report comes out. Some of the stuff you said about Peter, and about others and me, you'll regret very much when the facts come out," he said. When asked why the passport application of one of the Hinduja brothers had been processed more quickly than normal, being processed and sanctioned in six months when the process can take up to two years, he replied, "It is not unusual."
On 29 January, the government confirmed that the Hinduja Foundation had held a reception for Vaz in September 1999 to celebrate his appointment as the first Asian Minister in recent times. The party was not listed by Vaz in the House of Commons Register of Members' Interests and John Redwood
Sir John Alan Redwood (born 15 June 1951) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wokingham in Berkshire since 1987. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Secretary of State for Wales in the Major governm ...
, then head of the Conservative Parliamentary Campaigns Unit, questioned Vaz's judgement in accepting the hospitality.
In March, Vaz was ordered to fully co-operate with a new inquiry launched into his financial affairs by Elizabeth Filkin, who was Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an officer of the British House of Commons. The work of the officer is overseen by the Commons Select Committee on Standards.
The current commissioner is Kathryn Stone.
Duties
The commissioner is i ...
at the time. Foreign Secretary
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
Robin Cook
Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 whe ...
, Vaz's superior, also urged him to fully answer allegations about his links with the Hinduja brothers. Mr Vaz met Mrs Filkin on 20 March to discuss a complaint that the Hinduja Foundation had given the sum of £1,200 to Mapesbury Communications, a company run by his wife, in return for helping to organise a Hinduja-sponsored reception at the House of Commons. Vaz had previously denied receiving money from the Hindujas, but insisted that he made no personal gain from the transaction in question.
In June 2001, Vaz admitted that he had made representations during the Hinduja brothers
Hinduja Group is an Indian transnational conglomerate. The group is present in eleven sectors including automotive, oil and specialty chemicals, banking and finance, IT and ITeS, cyber security, healthcare, trading, infrastructure project deve ...
' applications for British citizenship while a backbench MP. Tony Blair also admitted that Vaz had "made representations" on behalf of other Asians. On 11 June 2001 Vaz was dismissed from his post as Europe Minister, to be replaced by Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
. The Prime Minister's office said that Vaz had written to Tony Blair stating he wished to stand down for health reasons.
In December 2001, Elizabeth Filkin cleared Vaz of failing to register payments to his wife's law firm by the Hinduja brothers, but said that he had colluded with his wife to conceal the payments. Filkin's report said that the payments had been given to his wife for legal advice on immigration issues and concluded that Vaz had gained no direct personal benefit, and that Commons rules did not require him to disclose payments made to his wife. She did, however, criticise him for his secrecy, saying, "It is clear to me there has been deliberate collusion over many months between Mr Vaz and his wife to conceal this fact and to prevent me from obtaining accurate information about his possible financial relationship with the Hinduja family".
Ashok Leyland
In February 2005 Ashok Leyland
Ashok Leyland is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturer, headquartered in Chennai. It is owned by the Hinduja Group. It was founded in 1948 as Ashok Motors and became Ashok Leyland in the year 1955. Ashok Leyland is the second-most ...
, an India-based flagship company of the brothers' Hinduja Group, announced an agreement to supply 100 army vehicles to the Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
ese Defence Ministry. It was alleged by arms campaigner Mark Thomas
Mark Clifford Thomas (born 11 April 1963) is an English comedian, presenter, political satirist, and journalist. He first became known as a guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 comedy show ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' in the late 1980s. He is ...
that this contravened UK arms export legislation, as a number of the company's directors were UK residents or citizens.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinduja Group
Bus manufacturers of India
Holding companies established in 1914
Conglomerate companies of India
Engineering companies of India
Truck manufacturers of India
Indian companies established in 1914
Hinduja family