Srichand Parmanand Hinduja is an Indian born British billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the primary shareholder and chairman of Hinduja Group of companies. As of May 2020, together with his brother Gopichand he is the UK's second richest man. Since the 1990s, he has been consistently ranked among the UK and Asia's wealthiest people. In May 2019, Hinduja topped the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated wealth of GBP 22 billion. Based on the rich list compiled by Asian Media & Marketing Group, Hinduja's wealth is estimated at GBP 25.2 billion. The Forbes List in March 2019 ranked him and his brother GP as the world's 65th richest billionaire family with an estimated wealth of $16.9 billion.
Hinduja began his career in his father's textile and trading businesses in Bombay, India, and Tehran, Iran. One of his first big coups, in the early 1960s, was the acquisition of the overseas rights to the Indian blockbuster Sangam. Hinduja distributed and promoted the film in Middle Eastern markets and its success earned him millions. Other successful businesses Hinduja initiated in his early career included the sale of food commodities and iron ore from India to Iran.
Business career 1980–2000s
With the acquisition of Ashok Leyland and Gulf Oil 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, and Ambani. In 2012, the Group acquired the US firm Houghton International, the world's largest metal fluids manufacturer, for $1.045 billion.
Business approach
Hinduja's business approach is conservative and opportunist, investing in diversified business sectors ranging from oil & gas, banking & finance, and IT to real estate, energy & chemicals, power, and media & entertainment.
Wealth
In 2019, Hinduja was the UK's wealthiest person, with an estimated wealth of GBP 22 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 to be worth $500 million, making it the third most expensive private home in the world.
Personal life
Hinduja is married to Madhu Srichand Hinduja, and they have two daughters. The Hinduja family is of Sindhi heritage. 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, as part of a suicide pact 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 and a strict vegetarian. He is known to bring his own vegetarian food to the Queen's banquets at Buckingham Palace.
