© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Hinduja Group Chairman Gopichand P. Hinduja, the second of the four Hinduja brothers who built one of India’s largest business empires, passed away at the age of 85 in a London hospital on Tuesday.
Fondly known as ‘GP’ in business circles, he took over as the Chairman of the Hinduja Group and Hinduja Automotive Ltd, UK, after the demise of elder brother Srichand Hinduja in May 2023.
Born in 1940, GP Hinduja joined the family business in Mumbai in 1959. He was one of the architects of the transformation of the group from an Indo-Middle East trading operation into a multi-billion-dollar transnational conglomerate. His younger brother Prakash Hinduja is Chairman of Hinduja group (Europe) and the youngest brother Ashok Hinduja is the Chairman of Hinduja group of companies in India.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Gopichand Hinduja ‘and family’ is the richest person in the UK with a net worth of 35.3 billion pounds.
GP Hinduja’s business philosophy could be summed up in two words — common sense. One of his defining moves came with the group’s acquisition of Gulf Oil in 1984, followed by the bold purchase of a then-struggling Ashok Leyland in 1987 — marking one of the earliest and most significant NRI investments in India. That acquisition went on to become one of the most remarkable turnaround stories in Indian corporate history.
He was also the driving force behind the group’s expansion into the power and infrastructure sectors, leading its vision to build multi-gigawatt energy capacity across India. Under his leadership, the group strengthened its financial footprint through IndusInd Bank and, more recently, the acquisition of Reliance General Insurance Company.
He graduated from Bombay’s Jai Hind College in 1959. He held an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Westminster and Honorary Doctorate of Economics from Richmond College, London.
The Hinduja Group has become one of the largest diversified groups in the world, spanning all the continents. The group employs over 2,50,000 people and has offices in many key cities of the world, and all the major cities in India. Andhra Pradesh had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hinduja Group for a cumulative investment of Rs 20,000 crore on Monday.
Hinduja brothers also courted controversies as the Hinduja name allegedly cropped up in the Bofors scandal. In 1987, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, quoting highly placed company sources in an original report, alleged that the Hindujas were recipients of the “commission” paid by Bofors in connection with winning the Bofors-India Howitzer contract of March 24, 1986. However, the Hindujas persistently denied their involvement in the Bofors scandal, with one of the brothers claiming in an interview that “there is a clear-cut conspiracy to malign the name of the family.”
The once-closely knit Hinduja family also witnessed a rift in the recent past. The cause for the rift happened in 2014, when the four brothers signed a letter that assets held by one brother belonged to all. The three younger brothers allegedly tried to use the 2014 letter to take control of Hinduja Bank in Switzerland, which was in SP’s sole name, resulting in the legal battle between SP’s daughters and the three brothers.
The cracks in the family widened as the children of the four brothers started moving up the ladder and holding key positions in family businesses. GP Hinduja’s son Sanjay Hinduja is the Chairman of Gulf Oil.
