MUMBAI: Hinduja group chairman Gopichand Parmanand Hinduja, the Indian-origin English businessman and the richest person in island nation, has passed away in a London hospital after a brief spell of illness, on Tuesday.
Hinduja, 85, is survived by his wife Sunita, sons Sanjay and Dheeraj, and daughter Rita. His death, according to a PTI report, was announced by Lord Rami Ranger (a member of the British House of Lords), a close associate of the late British-Indian industrialist, who said, “his passing marks the end of an era, as he was truly a well-wisher of the community and a guiding force”.
Fondly known as 'GP' in business circles, he had been a regular feature in the annual Sunday Times rich list, wherein the group has been topping tally for the fourth consecutive year in 2025 with an estimated fortune of 35.3 billion pounds.
Born in 1940 in Sindh in the undivided India, he took over the group co-chairmanship in May 2023, following the death of his brother, Srichand.
GP belonged to the second generation of the Hinduja family, set up primarily as trading company by his father Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja in 1919 following his relocation from Sindh (now in Pakistan) to Iran and moved the headquarters to London in 1979.
Srichand and GP transformed the company from a trading into the multi-billion-dollar conglomerate it is now. And together, the three Hinduja brothers, including Prakash and Ashok, are among the most well-known Indian-origin business families in Britain today.
As a forward-thinking leader, GP directed the Hinduja Group's expansion into power and infrastructure, and power, financial services under , Indusind Bank, which of late landed in an accounting scandal leading to exit of the top management.
But for the Hinduja group, controversies have always been part of their growth. The group straddles a diverse set of industries—finance, automobiles (commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland), and oil and speciality chemicals, IT, cybersecurity, healthcare, trading, infrastructure, media and entertainment, power, and real estate across 48 countries, employing around 2 lakh worldwide.
GP’s latest addition to the group’s crown jewels was the purchase of the Old War Office (OWO) luxury hotel complex in central London recently.
The string of controversies that three brothers--Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash—faced include the Bofors scandal (the case against them was eventually dismissed by the Delhi High Court in 2005 due to a lack of evidence after being accused of brining government officials in the 1985); an income tax probe over alleged tax evasion related to a business merger in India, and Indusind Bank’s accounting scam. While outside the group got mired in the ‘cash-for-passports’ scam in England, a Swiss court case for alleged exploitation of domestic workers, and lately an internal family succession dispute that became a legal battle.
A graduate of Bombay’s Jai Hind College in 1959, GP held many a honorary academic distinction--a doctorate of law from the University of Westminster and a doctorate of economics from Richmond College, London.
GP was known as a very vocal champion of closer India-British economic ties and often addressed gatherings in London to exhort businesses to invest in the booming Indian market.
“We’ve always been working to see what best we can do between India and England because we believe our responsibility is to act as a bridge between the host country and the motherland,” he had said recently at a business gathering.
Beginning his career with the family business in Bombay in 1959, GP played a pivotal role in evolving the company from its initial Indo-Middle Eastern trading focus into a diverse, international business group worth billions. His first strategic decision was the acquisition of Gulf Oil in 1984, which preceded the purchase of the then-struggling Ashok Leyland in 1987, marking the first substantial NRI investment in the country.
Since the 2014 success plan, which is under legal dispute now, GP’s death raises many questions over who will lead the group as the posse of family claimants leaves behind many potential successors and a power struggle at the top cannot be ruled out.
Under the present structure, Prakash, the chairman of Hinduja group (Europe), and Ashok, the chairman of Hinduja Group of Companies (India), are just below the late GP and thus are the most natural people to take forward the legacy.
Next in line are the third generation—GP’s sons, Dheeraj Hinduja, who chairs Ashok Leyland, and Sanjay, who heads Gulf Oil. Prakash’s son, Shom, is the chairman of Hinduja Renewables and Srichand’s daughters Vinoo and Shanu manage Hinduja Bank in Switzerland.
The group has been following a philosophy of ‘four bodies, one soul’ policy, where the brothers lead collectively. All four brothers signed a letter in 2014 formalizing the philosophy of collective ownership wherein "everything belongs to everyone, and nothing belongs to anyone."
However, soon the first crack appeared in 2020, when Vinoo, daughter of Srichand, challenged the enforceability of the 2014 letter as Srichand’s "litigant friend" based on a lasting power of attorney signed in 2015 owing to his illness. She withdrew the lasting power of attorney in a London court and the family announced a settlement to their long-standing dispute in November 2023. This agreement effectively ended years of legal battles and public discord.
