London, May 18: The Hinduja brothers have topped UK’s list of 1,000 richest people that includes other Indian-origin industrialists Lakshmi N. Mittal and Lord Swraj Paul with a combined fortune reaching a “phenomenal” £518.9 billion or one-third 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 2012-13,” 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.
