Hindujas knocked down to 2nd position in UK’s rich list
The Indian-born Hinduja brothers have been displaced to second position by chemicals entrepreneur Jim Ratcliffe in an annual rich list of Britain’s wealthiest released on Sunday.
London-based Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja are listed with an estimated fortune of around 20.64 billion pounds, compared to Ratcliffe’s 21.05 billion pounds, in the ‘Sunday Times Rich List’.
They lead nearly 47 Indian-origin super-rich in the 2018 list of the UK’s 1,000 wealthiest people.
“Today’s super rich include people who have set up businesses selling chocolate, sushi, pet food and eggs. We’re seeing more people from humble backgrounds, who struggled at school or who didn’t even start their businesses until well into middle age,” notes Robert Watts, who compiled the list.
Ratcliffe, described as a self-made British-born industrialist who came from very humble beginnings to launch chemical firm Ineos, has jumped to top place from 18th in 2017 by amassing nearly 15.3 billion pounds over the past year.
“London-based Gopi, 78, and Sri, 82, oversee the family empire. Brothers Prakash, 72, and Ashok, 67, are based in Geneva and Mumbai respectively,” the list notes in reference to the Hinduja brothers, who saw a hike in their fortunes of around 4.44 billion pounds over the past year but missed out on the top spot this year.
“Today investments span oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare. The biggest successes over the past year have been their Indian automotive manufacturer Ashok Leyland and the Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank, the share prices of which have respectively risen by 49 per cent and 27 per cent,” it adds.
British-American industrialist-turned-media mogul Sir Len Blavatnik came in at third place with 15.26 billion pounds. Another set of India-born entrepreneurial brothers, David and Simon Reuben, moved down from third to fourth place, with a fortune of 15.09 billion pounds and steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal moved down from fourth to fifth place with 14.66 billion pounds.
London-based Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja are listed with an estimated fortune of around 20.64 bn pounds, compared to Ratcliffe’s 21.05 billion pounds, in the ‘Sunday Times Rich List’