LONDON: The patriarch of one of Britain’s richest Indian families, Srichand Parmanand Hinduja, who died in London at the age of 87, was a visionary titan of industry and business, a deeply-respected humanitarian and a renowned philanthropist. One of his most enduring legacies was his simplicity and his desire to effect change in society.
The eldest of the four Hinduja brothers and Chairman of the Hinduja Group, Srichand wielded tremendous clout globally, with his business empire flourishing across continents. Founded more than a century ago in India, the Hinduja Group deals with everything from banking and oil to automotive industry, healthcare and cyber security.
Srichand was born on November 28, 1935, in Karachi, which is now in Pakistan but was then part of the British-ruled, undivided India. After the Partition in 1947, the family moved to Mumbai, where his father set up a shop selling jute and textiles and later extended operations to Iran, trading in food, spices and other commodities from India.
Srichand studied in Mumbai, completing his degree at R.D. National College in 1952 and joined his father’s business in Iran, helping gain the sole licence to distribute Hindi films there and dub them into Farsi.
After their father’s death in 1971, the Hinduja brothers gained a reputation for getting difficult things done and finding solutions where others struggled and moved to Britain amid the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran. Seizing opportunities in a globalised world, he and his brothers scripted a strategy for diversified growth of the Group, transforming it into an international conglomerate with footprints across 38 countries and a 150,000-plus-strong team.
Srichand became the patriarch to his younger brothers Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok. Under him, the Hinduja Group operated as a tightlyrun unit without outside shareholders or extensive public disclosures of its business portfolio. A spokesman for the family said that the “loss had left a huge void as the brothers have always been four bodies and one soul.” The group’s wealth and influence, was evident from the high-profile connections forged by Srichand and his family across the world
