Hinduja family, Lakshmi Mittal in UK rich list; Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murty move up spots

Hinduja’s family-run companies operate in 48 countries and across several sectors such as automotive, oil and speciality chemicals, banking and finance, IT, cyber security, healthcare, trading, infrastructure project development, media and entertainment, power, and real estate. Over the past year, the family’s wealth increased considerably and hit GBP 37.196 billion with the launch of their brand-new luxury OWO Hotel in the heart of London.

“It has been a year of expansion through acquisition for the group, made possible in part by growing stock market valuations of the family’s main listed holdings, which have risen to a total of GBP 8.7 billion,” the Sunday Times wrote.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty moved up several ranks in the list, which was released on Friday. Popularly known as the “wealthiest people to call 10 Downing Street home,” the couple went from 275th rank in last year’s list to 245th in this year’s.

Owing to Murty’s lucrative Infosys shareholdings, the couple’s estimated wealth currently stands at GBP 651 million. However, financial statements published in February are quoted to say Sunak made GBP 2.2 million in 2022-23 compared to Murty’s estimated GBP 13 million in dividends over the past year.

“The couple’s most valued asset is Murty’s shareholding in Infosys, a Bangalore-based IT company co-founded by Murty’s father [Narayan Murthy],” reads the newspaper’s analysis.

“Over the past year, the shares have grown in value by GBP 108.8 million to nearly GBP 590 million. The latest annual report suggests that Murty received about GBP 13 million in dividends during that time — adding to the more than a million pounds she has been paid in previous years. She is poised to receive another GBP 10.5 million this year,” it further notes.

Among the top 5 of the list are also businessmen David and Simon Reuben, the Indian-born brothers who rose to the third rank in 2024’s evaluation from their rank 4 in 2023’s edition. Along with the brothers, the family’s estimated wealth was noted to be around GBP 24.977 billion.

Lakshmi N. Mittal, NRI tycoon and executive chairman of ArcelorMittal steelworks, though slipped two spots from ranking 6th in 2023 to 8th in 2024, still managed to hold his position among the top 10 on the list with an estimated wealth of GBP 14.921 billion.

Mittal was followed by industrialist Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources who also dropped a rank from 2023 and stood at No. 23 on the Rich List 2024, with an estimated GBP 7 billion. Among the top 100 riches Britons were also Indian-origin brothers Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora at No. 65, leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul and family at No. 67, fashion industrialist Sunder Genomal at No. 77, and Jasminder Singh and family who came in at No. 83.

– with PTI inputs

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