Gopichand Hinduja
Gopichand Hinduja | |
|---|---|
 Hinduja in 2019 | |
| Born | Gopichand Parmanand Hinduja 29 January 1940 Iran |
| Died | 4 November 2025 (aged 85) London, England |
| Alma mater | Jai Hind College |
| Known for | Co-Chairman, Hinduja Group |
| Spouse | Sunita Hinduja |
| Children | 3, including Dheeraj Hinduja |
| Father | Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja |
| Relatives | S. P. Hinduja (brother) Prakash Hinduja (brother) |
Gopichand Parmanand Hinduja (29 January 1940 – 4 November 2025) was an Indian-British billionaire businessman controlling the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group. For many years he was co-chairman with his brother Srichand "S. P." Hinduja who died in May 2023. He and his brother were frequently named among the wealthiest people in the UK and Asia, and in the Sunday Times Rich List 2024 ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK he was placed first with an estimated family fortune of £37 billion.
Early life
[edit]Gopichand Parmanand Hinduja was born on 29 January 1940, in Iran, [1] the son of Parmanand Hinduja, and educated at Jai Hind College, Bombay.[2]
Business career
[edit]The Hinduja brothers began their careers in their father's textile and trading businesses in Bombay, India, and Tehran, Iran.[3] Successful early businesses included the sale of food commodities (onions and potatoes) and iron ore from India to Iran.[4]
With the acquisition of Ashok Leyland (from British Leyland) and Gulf Oil (from Chevron Corporation) in the 1980s and the establishment of banks in Switzerland and India in the 1990s, Hinduja Group became one of India's best known businesses alongside such names as Tata, Birla, and Ambani.[5] 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, (Director of Private Equity of JP Morgan) and Hank Paulson, former United States Secretary of the Treasury and formerly of Goldman Sachs.[6]
Wealth
[edit]As of May 2024, he was estimated to be the UK's richest person.[7][8] Since the 1990s, he had been consistently ranked among the UK and Asia's wealthiest people.[9]
In 2013, a rich list compiled by Asian Media & Marketing Group, estimated Hinduja's wealth at GBP 19 billion ($24.7 billion).[10]
In May 2017, Hinduja topped the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated wealth of GBP 16.2 billion ($21 billion).[11]
In May 2019 The Hinduja brothers, Gopichand and Srichand, were once again named by The Times UK as the UK's wealthiest people, according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List survey.[12]
Hinduja remained the wealthiest again in 2025,[13] with his estimated wealth at £35.3 billion following a peak of £37.2 billion in 2024.[14]
Personal life
[edit]Gopichand Hinduja was married to Sunita, and they had two sons and one daughter, Sanjay Hinduja, Dheeraj Hinduja and Rita Hinduja.[2][15] The Hinduja family is of Hindu Sindhi heritage.[16] Gopichand and his three brothers are teetotal and vegetarian.[17]
In 2015, their son Sanjay Hinduja married his long-time girlfriend, the designer Anu Mahtani, in Udaipur, India. The wedding cost £15 million and entertainment included the pop singers Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Scherzinger and actor Arjun Kapoor.[18]
Citizenship
[edit]Gopichand obtained British citizenship in 1997.[19] In 2001, Hinduja was involved in the UK's cash-for-passports scandal, where he donated money for the Millennium Dome while applying for British citizenship, leading to the resignation of Peter Mandelson.[20][21]
Later life and death
[edit]The Hinduja family made headlines in 2021 for a feud that reached a London courtroom. Srichand Hinduja's daughters Vinoo and Shanu accused their three uncles of cutting them out of funding and decision-making. At the time, Srichand (Gopichand's elder brother) was suffering from dementia, and soon died in 2023.
Gopi Hinduja died at a hospital in London, on 4 November 2025, at the age of 85.[22]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Telegraph Obituaries". Telegraph.co.uk. United Kingdom: Telegraph Media Group. 4 November 2025. Archived 4 November 2025 at archive.today
- ^ a b Europa Publications (2003). The International Who's Who 2004. Psychology Press. p. 733. ISBN 978-1-85743-217-6. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
- ^ Pranay Gupte (28 December 1987). "The world is their bazaar". Forbes. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
- ^ Cragg, Claudia (1996). The New Maharajahs: The Commercial Princes of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Century Ltd. ISBN 9780712677615. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
- ^ Reghu Balakrishnan (18 April 2012). "Hinduja to launch $500-mn infra fund". Business Standard. Mumbai.
- ^ James Crabtree (7 November 2012). "Hindujas' Gulf Oil agrees $1bn US deal". Financial Times.
- ^ "The Sunday Times Rich List 2024 revealed". The Times. 17 May 2024.
- ^ "Rich List puts Bamford in Top 20". Construction Index. 17 May 2024.
- ^ "Srichand & Gopichand Hinduja". Forbes. Archived from the original on 7 March 2013.
- ^ Bounds, Andrew (22 March 2013). "Mittal loses top spot in rich list". Financial Times.
- ^ "The Sunday Times Rich List 2017: Boom time for billionaires". The Times. 7 May 2017.
- ^ Connett, David (11 May 2019). "Hinduja brothers take back top spot in annual Rich List". The Guardian. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- ^ "The Sunday Times Rich List 2025". The Times.
- ^ "Gopi Hinduja and family net worth — Sunday Times Rich List 2025". The Times. 16 May 2025. Archived from the original on 20 July 2025.
- ^ "Hinduja Brothers Family Tree". Hinduja Group.
- ^ Palijo, Waseem (8 January 2019). "Most billionaires in India today once resided in Pakistan's Sindh". Daily Times.
- ^ Lamb, Christina; West, Julian (28 January 2001). "The teetotal Hinduja brothers, who partied their way to power". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 February 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
- ^ "'India's most eligible bachelor' Sanjay Hinduja marries in £15m ceremony". The Telegraph. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
- ^ "Mandelson resigns over passport deception". The Guardian. 1 February 2001. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
- ^ "Hindujas' British passports affair". rediff.com. 25 February 2001.
- ^ Miller, Hugo; Browning, Jonathan (23 November 2021). "Billionaire Family Feud Puts a Century-Old Business Empire in Jeopardy". Bloomberg News.
- ^ "Hinduja Group Chairman Gopichand P Hinduja, 85 years old, passes away in London". The Times of India. 4 November 2025. Retrieved 4 November 2025.