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Sudhir Choudhrie (born September 1949) is an Indian-born and London-based businessman with interests in healthcare, aviation, and hospitality.


Early life

Sudhir Choudhrie was born in September 1949, and raised in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
by his mother, after his father’s early death. Choudhrie has described his mother as his "role model" in life. He has a bachelor's degree in Economics from the
University of Delhi The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...
. His uncle B. K. Kapur was the chairman of
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian public sector aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bengaluru. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the world. H ...
, the Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, from at least as early as 1982, until 2013.


Career

After completing his education, Choudhrie chose not to join his grandfather's Delhi real estate business, and began his own business career buying TV equipment from the UK to sell on to the Indian government to develop the country's growing television network in the 1960s and 70s. His business developed as an exporter of consumer goods including farm machinery, initially particularly focused on the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, then India’s largest trading partner. Choudhrie founded the Magnum International Trading Company Ltd in 1975, where he focused on export markets. Choudhrie has served as vice chairman of Alpha C&C Group, an holding company for investments he founded over 30 years ago. He was a director of the chartered airline companies Deccan Aviation Ltd (2007–08) and
Kingfisher Airlines Kingfisher Airlines Limited was an airline group based in India. It was established in 2003 and started its commercial operations in 2005. Through its parent company United Breweries Group, it had a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red. ...
(2008-). Choudhrie was a non-executive director of
Ebookers Orbitz.com is a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine. The website is owned by Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., a subsidiary of Expedia Group. It is headquartered in the Citigroup Center, Chicago, Illinois. Background Origi ...
, a travel website, from 1999 to 2005. From 1993 to 2004, Choudhrie served as Latvia's Honorary Consul General to India. In 2013,
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
awarded him the "Asian Business Lifetime Achievement Year Award 2013". In July 2013 the ''
Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...
'' alleged that Choudhrie had been denied a peerage because of concerns about the treatment of patients by the Alpha Hospital Group. The company responded by saying "Sudhir Choudhrie does not run or manage Alpha Healthcare or Alpha Hospitals. He retired from being a director of both companies in 2007". In July 2014
the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
published a correction to a similar story, accepting that there was no evidence to suggest that his peerage was blocked because concerns about Alpha. Choudhrie is thought to have a long-term interest in the defence trade and has been described as "one of India’s key arms dealers". He was allegedly blacklisted by the Indian government due to being suspected of "corrupt or irregular practice", following several investigations into his companies. In February 2014, Choudhrie was detained by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in a bribery investigation into
Rolls-Royce Holdings Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and dist ...
. He denied any wrongdoing, was never charged and was released on bail without conditions. The
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
reported that the bail was completely lifted in July 2014. It also indicated that Choudhrie was unlikely to be a part of the inquiry any further.


Author

In 2017 Choudhrie published ''From My Heart: A Tale of Love, Life and Destiny,'' an autobiographical work focusing on his early life, long term heart condition and experience of a heart transplant operation.


Philanthropy

Choudhrie has been a longstanding benefactor of
Green Templeton College Green Templeton College (GTC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college is located on the former Green College site on Woodstock Road next to the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in North Oxford and is ...
at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, where a Library has been named in his honour. Choudhrie holds an honorary Radcliffe fellowship at the college and has supported the annual GTC Emerging Markets Symposium since it began in 2007. Choudhrie is a benefactor of the
Columbia University Medical Center Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) is the academic medical center of Columbia University and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The center's academic wing consists of Columbia's colleges and schools of Physicia ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, where a professorship in
Cardiology Cardiology () is the study of the heart. Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery di ...
has been established in his name. The Choudhrie family support several charities. Their UK based Path to Success charity works to promote educational opportunities and provide assistance for disabled people, and to help the homeless. Led by Choudhrie's wife Anita, the charity ran a campaign to fund sixty wheelchairs for sixty UK
NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
hospitals in 2013. It supports the Amar Jyoti Trust in India providing educational, sporting and cultural activities for disabled and able bodied children.


Personal life

Choudhrie is married to Anita and they have two sons, Bhanu and Dhairya. The family lives in London. Choudhrie suffered from the same genetic heart condition that led to the early death of his brother Rajiv in 1998. Following years of ill health, in 1999 Choudhrie's heart also failed and he underwent an emergency
heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...
operation at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York. The surgeon was Dr Mehmet Oz who has talked about the operation on his The Dr Oz Show. Choudhrie is now one of the longest surviving heart transplant recipients in the world and has described surviving the operation as his "greatest achievement". The wealth of the Choudhrie family is estimated at US$2 billion.


Arts

Choudhrie enjoys restoring
vintage car A vintage car is, in the most general sense, an old automobile, and in the narrower senses of car enthusiasts and collectors, it is a car from the period of 1919 to 1930, Either a "survivor" or one that has been fixed up according to the or ...
s and has one of the finest private collections in India. Choudhrie and his wife Anita collect
Indian art Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, N ...
, particularly
M. F. Husain Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian painter and film director who painted Narrative painting, narrative paintings in a modified Cubism, Cubist style. He was one of the founding members of Bombay Progressiv ...
("the Picasso of India"). They founded the Stellar International Art Foundation in 2008, which has collected over 600 pieces, including many by Husain. The Foundation held an exhibition of Husain's art in London in 2015. Choudhrie owns works by Damian Hirst,
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
and
Anish Kapoor Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor (born 12 March 1954) is a British sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the United Ki ...
.


Politics

Choudhrie is a long term backer of the UK Liberal Democrats and has supported the party financially since 2004, making over £1.5million in donations (personal and company). In 2015 Liberal Democrat leader
Tim Farron Timothy James Farron (born 27 May 1970) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmorland and Lonsdale since ...
appointed Choudhrie as his adviser on India, a role involving helping the party develop its relationship with the British-Indian community and providing advice on Britain's foreign and business relationships with India.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhrie, Sudhir 1949 births Living people Indian aviation businesspeople Indian hoteliers Arms traders Indian expatriates in the United Kingdom Defence industry of India Businesspeople from Delhi Car collectors Indian collectors Liberal Democrats (UK) donors