Britain’s richest man Gopichand Hinduja passes away at the age of 85

Hinduja Group Chairman Gopichand P. Hinduja passed away in a London hospital on Tuesday. He was 85.

Known as GP in business circles, he took over as Chairman of the Hinduja Group following the death of his elder brother Srichand in May 2023. He is survived by his wife, Sunita, sons Sanjay and Dheeraj, and daughter, Rita.

The 2025 edition of the Sunday Times Rich List recently ranked Gopichand Hinduja's family the richest in the UK with a net worth of 32.3 billion pounds.

Gopichand Hinduja joined the family business in 1950 and is credited with transforming the company from an Indo-Middle East trading operation into a transnational conglomerate. His other two brothers are Prakash Hinduja and Ashok Hinduja.

A graduate from Bombay Jai Hind College, Gopichand held honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Westminster and Richmond College, according to the company's website.

The Hinduja Group has businesses in eleven sectors, including automotive, banking and finance, IT, healthcare, real estate, power, and media and entertainment. Some of its well-known brands include Ashok Leyland, IndusInd Bank, and NXTDIGITAL Limited.

While Prakash Hinduja has been involved in managing the group's operations in Europe, Ashok Hinduja, the youngest brother, oversees the group's interests in India.

The Hinduja Group made a major decision to enter the Indian automobile sector with the purchase of heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland in 1987, which is now their flagship company in the Indian automobile sector. This move was considered the first big NRI investment in India at the time.

The Hinduja family made headlines in 2021 for a feud that reached a London courtroom. Srichand Hinduja's daughter Vinoo and Shanu accused their three uncles of cutting them out of funding and decision-making. At the time, Srichand Hinduja, known as SP, was suffering from dementia.

Responding to their nieces' allegations, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok cited an agreement the four brothers made back in 2013 that "everything belongs to everyone and nothing belongs to anyone".

The increasingly bitter feud in the Hinduja Group has raised the possibility of a messy unraveling of the 107-year-old group, putting at risk one of the world's largest conglomerates.

With dozens of companies -- including six publicly traded entities in India -- the closely-held Hinduja Group employs more than 150,000 people in 38 countries in truck-making, banking, chemicals, power, media and healthcare, Bloomberg reported. S.P. Hinduja (85) now suffers from a form of dementia, and his grandson Karam Hinduja, his sister, mother, aunt and grandmother are locked in a battle with the rest of the Hinduja family over pieces of the $18 billion British-Indian group.

Indo-Asian News Service