Hindujas worth 1/ 3rd UK’S GDP
London, May 18: The Hinduja brothers have topped UK’s list of 1,000 richest people — that includes other Indianorigin industrialists Lakshmi N. Mittal and Lord Swraj Paul — with a combined fortune reaching a “phenomenal” £ 518.9 billion or onethird of Britain’s annual GDP.
Mr Srichand, 78, and Gopichand Hinduja, 74 — who run the multinational Hinduja Group conglomerate with interests across automotive, real estate and oil — moved up from third position last year to top the UK’s billionaire charts this year with a fortune of £ 11.9 billion, according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2014 made public on Sunday.
The London- based Hindujas edged out steel tycoon Lakshmi N. Mittal, who rose one position upwards to the third rank with £ 10.25 billion even as Arsenal shareholder and Russian business chief Usmanov, who topped the list till last year, fell to the second place after his estimated fortune dropped to £ 10.65 billion.
“Last year, the Hindujas sold a 49 per cent stake in a Saudi Arabian lubricants maker, Petromin, for more than £ 200 million. Property investments in India have added £ 200 million. The family’s IndusInd bank is capitalised at about £ 2.7 billion. In Britain, Hinduja Automotive turned over about £ 1.5 billion in 201213,” the newspaper said.
According to the list of 1,000 richest men and women, Britain’s wealthiest people are richer than ever before, with a combined fortune of £ 518.9 billion — equivalent to a third of the nation’s gross domestic product.
The list also includes Prakash Lohia, Lord Swraj Paul and Anil Agarwal.