Srichand Parmanand Hinduja (born 28 November 1935) is an Indian-born British

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the primary shareholder and chairman of

Hinduja Group 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 d ...

of companies. As of May 2020, together with his brother Gopichand he is the UK's richest man. Since the 1990s, he has been consistently ranked among the UK and Asia's wealthiest people. In 2022, Hinduja topped the ''Sunday Times'' Rich List with an estimated wealth of £28.472 billion sterling. Based on the rich list compiled by Asian Media & Marketing Group, Hinduja's wealth is estimated at £25.2 billion (US$31.7 billion). The ''Forbes'' List in March 2019 ranked him and his brother Gopichand as the world's 65th richest billionaire family with an estimated wealth of $16.9 billion.

Early life

Srichand Parmanand Hinduja was born on 28 November 1935 in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

province,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He is the second son of Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja and Jamuna Parmanand Hinduja. He was educated at Davar's College of Commerce and

R. D. National College Rishi Dayaram and Seth Hassaram National College and Seth Wassiamull Assomull Science College, popularly known as R. D. National College ( sd, رِشي دَيارام نيشنل ڪاليج) or simply as National College, is an education institu ...

, both in Mumbai. Alongside his younger brothers Gopichand,

Prakash Prakash is a common given name in Asian, Hindu, Sanskrit names and widely used in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. Prakash is generally used as a masculine name. The word prakash is derived from the Sanskrit word "prakāśa", meaning "bright light" or " ...

and Ashok, Hinduja is known as the patriarch of India's "fab four".

Early business career

Hinduja began his career in his father's textile and trading businesses in

Bombay 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, and

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran. His successful businesses in his early career included the sale of food commodities (onions and potatoes) and iron ore from India to Iran.

Business career 1980–2000s

With the acquisition of Ashok Leyland (from British Leyland) and

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

(from Chevron) in the 1980s and the establishment of banks in Switzerland and India in the 1990s, Hinduja became one of India's best known business tycoons alongside such names as Tata,

Birla Birla may refer to: * Birla family * Members of the Birla family: ** Aditya Vikram Birla ** Ananya Birla ** Basant Kumar Birla ** G. D. Birla ** K. K. Birla ** C. K. Birla ** Kumar Mangalam Birla See also

* Burla (disambiguation) {{surname Bir ...

, and

Ambani Ambani is a surname and may refer to the following people: Some people of Ambani surname * Anil Ambani, an Indian businessman and chairman of Reliance Group * Dhirubhai Ambani, an Indian businessman and founder of Reliance Industries in Mumbai ...

. In 2012, the Group acquired the US firm Houghton International, the world's largest metal fluids manufacturer, for $1.045 billion forming a consortium with the help of Ghouse Mohammed Asif, JP Morgan ( Director of Private Equity ) and Hank Paulson , Former United States Secretary of the Treasury ( Ex - Goldman Sachs ) .

Business approach

Hinduja's business approach is conservative and opportunistic, investing in diversified business sectors ranging from oil & gas, banking & finance, and IT to real estate, energy & chemicals, power, and media & entertainment.

Wealth

In 2022, Hinduja was the UK's wealthiest person, with an estimated wealth of £28.5 billion according to the ''Sunday Times'' Rich List. As of March 2019, ''Forbes'' ranks SP and GP Hinduja as the 65th richest in the world, with a net worth of $16.9 billion, with Forbes India estimating his net worth at $18 billion. This makes him the 4th wealthiest Indian-origin business magnate in the world. The October 2013 issue of ''Forbes Life'' estimates the Hinduja home in London's Carlton House Terrace down the Mall from

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

to be worth $500 million, making it the third most expensive private home in the world. In 2001, Hinduja was involved in the UK’s "cash-for-passports" scandal, where he donated money for 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 ...

while applying for British citizenship, leading to resignation of Peter Mandelson.

Personal life

Hinduja is married to Madhu Srichand Hinduja, and they have two daughters. Hinduja is a

Sindhi Hindu Sindhi Hindus are Sindhis who follow the Hindu religion, whose origins lie in the Sindh region and spread across modern-day India and Pakistani Sindh province. After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those who fled f ...

. In 1988, their daughter Shanu Srichand Hinduja married Suren Mukhi, the son of Narsi and Janki Mukhi, another London-based Sindhi trading family. Their other daughter, Vinoo Srichand Hinduja is on the board of management for the P.D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre in Mumbai. On 19 May 1992, their only son, Dharam Hinduja, died a few days after receiving 70% burns from self-immolation in a hotel room in

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

, as part of a

suicide pact A suicide pact is an agreed plan between two or more individuals to die by suicide. The plan may be to die together, or separately and closely timed. General considerations Suicide pacts are an important concept in the study of suicide, and h ...

with his wife, who survived. He had secretly married Ninotchka Sargon, a Roman Catholic Australian, at Chelsea Register Office in January that year. Hinduja is a

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

and a strict

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

. He is known to bring his own vegetarian food to the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's banquets at

. His wife Madhu died in January 2023. https://theprint.in/world/wife-of-sp-hinduja-dies-in-london/1302256/#:~:text=Madhu%20Hinduja%20passed%20away%20peacefully,She%20was%2082.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinduja, Srichand 1935 births Srichand British billionaires British businesspeople of Indian descent Indian emigrants to England British people of Indian descent Living people People from Shikarpur District British people of Sindhi descent People from Karachi