Srichand Parmanand Hinduja (28 November 1935 – 17 May 2023) was an Indian-born British billionaire businessman. He was the primary shareholder and chairman of

Hinduja Group Hinduja Group is an Indian Conglomerate (company), 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 proj ...

of companies, together with his brother Gopichand.

Early life

Srichand Parmanand Hinduja was born on 28 November 1935 in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

province,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He was 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, both in Mumbai.

Business career

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

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, India, and

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

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

Ashok Leyland Ashok Leyland Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturer, with its headquarters in Chennai. It is now owned by the Hinduja Group. It was founded in 1948 as Ashok Motors, which became Ashok Leyland in the year 1955 after collab ...

(from

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

) 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 Seven Sisters (oil companies), Seven Sisters oil companies. ...

(from

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

) 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 Ambani is a Gujarati surname found in the Indian state of Gujarat. Notable people: * The Ambani business family of the Reliance Industries and Reliance Group fortune ** Dhirubhai Ambani (1932–2002), Indian business executive; founder of Relian ...

. 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 JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is the largest bank in the United States, and the world's largest bank by mar ...

) and

Henry Paulson Henry "Hank" Merritt Paulson Jr. (born March 28, 1946) is an American investment banker and financier who served as the 74th United States secretary of the treasury from 2006 to 2009. Prior to his role in the Department of the Treasury, Paulson ...

, former

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

and formerly of

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

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

Wealth

From the 1990s, he was consistently ranked among the UK and Asia's wealthiest people. The October 2013 issue of ''

Forbes Life ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...

'' estimated the Hinduja home in London's

Carlton House Terrace Carlton House Terrace is a street in the St James's district of the City of Westminster in London. Its principal architectural feature is a pair of terraces, the Western and Eastern terraces, of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of ...

down the Mall from

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, 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 r ...

to be worth $500 million, making it the third most expensive private home in the world. As of March 2019, ''Forbes'' ranked SP and GP Hinduja as the 65th richest in the world, with a net worth of $16.9 billion, with

Forbes India ''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'', which is managed by the Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18. History and profile Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies ...

estimating his net worth at $18 billion. This made him the 4th wealthiest Indian-origin business magnate in the world. In 2022, Hinduja was the UK's wealthiest person, with an estimated wealth of £28.5 billion according to the ''Sunday Times'' Rich List. Based on the rich list compiled by Asian Media & Marketing Group, Hinduja's wealth is estimated at £25.2 billion (US$31.7 billion).

Personal life

Asian Conference of Neurological Surgeons

Alongside his younger brothers Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok, Hinduja are known as the patriarch of India's "fab four". Hinduja was married to Madhu Srichand Hinduja, and they had two daughters. Hinduja is a

Sindhi Hindu Sindhi Hindus are ethnic Sindhis who practice Hinduism and are native to the Sindh region of the Indian subcontinent. They are spread across modern-day Sindh, Pakistan and India. After the partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were amo ...

. A daughter, Vinoo Srichand Hinduja, is on the board of management for the

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 ...

in Mumbai. On 19 May 1992, Dharam Hinduja, his youngest son, died a few days after receiving 70% burns from

self-immolation Self-immolation is the act of setting oneself on fire. It is mostly done for political or religious reasons, often as a form of protest or in acts of martyrdom, and known for its disturbing and violent nature. Etymology The English word ' ...

in a hotel room in

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, 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. In England and Wales, a suicide pact is a partial defense, under section 4 of the Homicide Act ...

with his wife, who survived. He had secretly married Ninotchka Sargon, a Roman Catholic Australian, at

Chelsea Register Office Kensington and Chelsea Register Office is an office for the registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships located in Chelsea Old Town Hall in Chelsea, London. It has hosted the weddings of many notable people. According to '' ...

in January that year. 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 millen ...

while applying for

British citizenship The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and Nor ...

, leading to the resignation of

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, (born 21 October 1953) is a British politician, lobbyist and diplomat who has served as British Ambassador to the United States since February 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Mandelson serve ...

. Hinduja was

teetotal Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to be ...

and a strict

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

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

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

's banquets at

. His wife, Madhu, died in January 2023. Hinduja died of complications of

Lewy body dementia Lewy body dementia (LBD) is an umbrella term for two similar and common subtypes of dementia: dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD). Both are characterized by changes in thinking, movement, behavior, and mood. The ...

in London, on 17 May 2023, at age 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinduja, Srichand 1935 births 2023 deaths British billionaires British businesspeople of Indian descent British people of Sindhi descent Srichand Indian emigrants to England Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Businesspeople from Karachi People from Shikarpur District Deaths from dementia in England Indian billionaires English people of Indian descent 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century British businesspeople Deaths from Lewy body dementia