For the fourth 12 months in a row, Gopichand Hinduja has remained the richest particular person in Britain.
In response to in the present day’s Sunday Times Rich List 2025, the 85-year-old businessman and his household, who personal the Indian large Hinduja Group, are price £35 billion.
However who’re the Hinduja household? Right here’s the whole lot we all know.
Born on January 29, 1940, the richest man in Britain began his profession in India, working for his father’s textile firm together with his late brother Srichand, who died in 2023.
In 2000, the household—and Srichand particularly—have been enmeshed in scandal after it was revealed that Labour minister Peter Mandleson had known as Residence Workplace minister Mike O’Brien on the Srichand’s behalf whereas he sought British citizenship.
This led to Mr Mandleson’s resignation from Authorities, however that very same month it was made public that International Workplace minister Keith Vaz additionally contacted the Residence Workplace on behalf of the brothers.
In June of that 12 months, Mr Vaz was fired from his place as Europe Minister after acknowledging that he had made false statements when the brothers utilized for passports whereas he was a backbencher.
In a separate investigation into his monetary dealings on the finish of 2001, the Hindujas cleared Mr Vaz of failing to register funds to his spouse’s authorized agency, however they did uncover that he had conspired together with his spouse to cover the funds.
It said that though Mr Vaz had not personally benefited from the funds made to his spouse for authorized recommendation on immigration issues, he was exempt from disclosing this info within the Home of Commons.
In 2024, Gopi’s brother Prakash as well as his wife, son Ajay and his spouse Namrata, have been discovered responsible of exploitation and unlawful employment by a Swiss court docket and handed sentences starting from 4 to four-and-a-half years.
How did he make his fortune?
Starting within the buying and selling and textile division of his father’s firm, Gopi and his brothers expanded the household enterprise into one of the worthwhile on the planet within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties.
Within the Nineteen Eighties, the siblings broadened their enterprise pursuits by buying Gulf Oil and Ashok Leyland from British Leyland, and within the Nineteen Nineties, they opened banks in India and Switzerland.
The most important metallic fluids producer on the planet, Houghton Worldwide, was bought by their Hinduja Group in 2012 for about $1 billion.
The Hinduja Group operates in a wide range of industries, akin to power, media and leisure, and banking and finance. Roughly 200,000 people are employed by the conglomerate worldwide.
Hinduja is married to Sunita Hinduja and the pair have three youngsters – Sanjay, Dheeraj and Rita.
Sunita retains her life non-public and never a lot is understood concerning the billionaire’s spouse.
Gopi’s oldest son Sanjay adopted in his father’s lead and is the chairman of Gulf Oil Worldwide Restricted.
He’s additionally an assistant medical professor of medication at UC San Francisco and is a member of a number of medical societies together with: American Society of Hematology, American Society of Medical Oncology, Canadian Affiliation of Medical Oncologists, in addition to Fresno Madera Medical Society.
In 2015, he married designer Anu Mahtani in a lavish £15 million wedding ceremony in Udaipur, India, full with performances by Jennifer Lopez and Nicole Scherzinger.
Born in Tehran, Iran, Dheeraj additionally adopted in his father’s footsteps and has been the chairman of Ashok Leyland since October 2010.
He acquired a bachelor’s diploma from College Faculty London in 1993, and an MBA from Imperial Faculty London in 1994.
Whereas at Imperial he met Shalini Chandiramani, the daughter of a Morroco-based movie distributor, the pair married a while earlier than 1996 and have two youngsters Vedika and Vedant.
The household’s solely daughter Rita was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to London on the age of eight together with her household on the time of the Revolution. Nonetheless, she returned to her roots in Pune, India, the place in 1999, she arrange the Mukul Madhav Basis (MMF).
Rita can also be a part of the household enterprise because the co-chairman of the Hinduja Group. She is married to Finolex chairman Prakash P Chhabria.
