NO ONE can deny there is a link between wealth and power. Through the ages people who have been rich have been influential. And year after year, the Hindujas have topped Eastern Eye’s Asian Rich List.
Earlier this year, the net wealth of the four brothers – Srichand, 83, and Gopi, 79, who live in London, Prakash, 74, who is based in Geneva, and Ashok, 69, the baby of the side in Mumbai – was put at £25 billion.
Gopi, who is in his office high up in New Zealand House in the Haymarket area of London, is wearing a slightly quizzical expression. “What is the criterion for being on your power list?” he asks.
When told it is the ability of someone to use influence to help others, he brightens: “If that is the definition, and once you are prosperous and get a status and you don’t misuse that status but use it for helping and uplifting others, I am there.
I am meant for that. I love to do that. And that gives me happiness, it gives me pleasure.” That might sound a little too idealistic, but it is the case that behind his back, people do whisper good things about Gopi.
They do say he is generous in many ways, not least with his time. Unlike many other rich Indians who will socialise only with other rich Indians, Gopi, like his brothers, is much more approachable. “My door is always open,” says Gopi.
And in his case this claim is true, people who know him confirm. Gopi has two sons, Sanjay and Dheeraj, who are 55 and 49, respectively, and who have been in the business for many years. The Hinduja empire includes health, energy and power generation, automotive, finance and banking, oil and gas, IT and BPO, media and cable, real estate, trading, and defence.
The Hindujas do business in 100 countries, employing 100,000 people. India, the UK and the US are key countries. Sanjay looks after Gulf Oil, while Dheeraj is chairman of Ashok Leyland. As a little joke, Gopi picks up the phone, dials Dheeraj and tells him, “I’m giving your photo for publication,” only to hear his son protest, “No, no, no, give your photo, it’s much better.” Dheeraj, it seems, likes to do good by stealth.
His father says: “In two years, he has supported 70,000 students in Chennai. In the municipality schools, there is no good education. There was no bus. There was no breakfast for them. He does not like to talk about it. He says, ‘Dad whatever we can do, we should remain quiet.’
” He says his married daughter, Rita HindujaChhabria, also works very hard on behalf of the Mukul Madhav Foundation, an Indian charity which works in the field of healthcare, social welfare and education.
The Hindujas have helped set up the nonprofit-making PD Hinduja Sindhi Hospital in Bangalore. Gopi emphasises: “If you go into my hospital, even the lift man will not accept a tip. The direction comes from the top.
This is how you create a culture.” It is part of their culture that the Hindujas have remained a very united family which has been a source of strength to the four brothers and their children. They probably do carry the moral values bequeathed by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, who was born in Shikarpur in Sind (now in Pakistan) on November 25, 1901, and who founded the family business when he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1914.
Gopi argues to him “richness is not money. People misunderstand that if you have money it means you are big. No! The best is to have good friends and relationships. That is the best wealth.
If you have well-wishers, there cannot be better wealth than that.” Although the Hindujas are orthodox Hindus, they have also managed to keep diplomatic relations open with members of other faiths. Gopi clarifies this a little by saying: “It is not so much the Hindu faith we follow as the Vedas.”
He has consulted Lord Bourne, minister of faith from 2016-2019, who was apparently very excited by Gopi’s proposed book on religion. Gopi puts forward his case: “Take Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zenism, Bahai, all these religions – what are they? All these religions end where? The truth that Almighty God is one. Religion is being misused. When you talk about religion to the younger generation, they want to throw it out. So who has the time to read the Upanishads, Koran, Ramayana, Mahabharata?”
It’s a daunting task, but Gopi reveals details about the book: “Now I have made a summary of all the religions – it is 320 pages, and this we will launch it before December.” The launch might even coincide with the Hinduja Diwali party, which is one of the highlights of the London social calendar, combining as it does religion, power, politics, glamour, wealth, and, possibly most important of all, the tastiest Indian vegetarian food in town. Guests in the last few years have reflected the see-saw of British politics.
They have included everyone from Boris Johnson to Priti Patel, Penny Mordaunt, Gavin Williamson and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. “Mukesh Ambani was also there,” quips Gopi, referring to India’s richest man. It is not entirely clear whether this is an example of Gopi’s slightly mischievous sense of humour, but he has long been volunteering the opinion that “Brexit won’t happen” – at least, in any meaningful sense.
“And I still believe that Brexit won’t happen,” he laughs. “I have been saying that from the very first day because all this stems from political manoeuvring.
David Cameron did the bigUplifting humanity by creating a culture of giving Hindujas have used their wealth and influence to empower others 30 GG2 Power List | 2020 KNACK FOR SUCCESS: Sanjay (right) and Prakash Hinduja; and (below and from left) Gopi, Prakash and Srichand Hinduja PowerList.30-31.indd 2 02/10/2019 14:52:55 gest mistake by announcing a referendum. It is a difficult task.
They did not realise how many decades they had taken to develop this unity with Europe. They could have done a soft Brexit – like Norway.” That said, acting much like a head of state, when Boris Johnson took over from Theresa May, Gopi sent his personal congratulations to the new prime minister and several members of his team.
Some of them will probably attend his Diwali party where they will be gifted silver statues of Ganesha, the most popular of the Indian deities who removes obstacles and who might well offer wisdom to those wishing to get rid of the Irish backstop.
On Brexit and other matters, Gopi certainly merits careful attention because he is a serious student of international politics. It helps that London is located between far eastern and US time zones. “If I don’t take a global view I am nowhere,” he says. “I have to see what is happening in the US, what is happening in China, what is happening in the Middle East, what is happening in India, what is happening in the UK, in Europe – and I know people everywhere.” That is not a boast but a statement of fact. To this day, he speaks fluent Farsi from the family’s long connection with Iran.
“I have a relationship with the Middle East, I have a relationship with China, I have a relationship with the Japanese, I have a relationship with Koreans…” The Hindujas also recruit experts on foreign affairs, such as Ajit Kumar, who was until recently India’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
He accompanied Prakash Hinduja to Japan for the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Gopi has views on whether increased trade between India and Pakistan – a solution advocated by many other businessmen – could help reduce tension between the two countries. “At the moment in my opinion Pakistan is not a single power,” is his answer. “If Imran Khan was the only one who exercised power, all matters would have been resolved by now, but you have intelligence, you have the military, the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), each looking at its own interest. In contrast, look at Bangladesh – how their economy is booming.”
Requests for him to speak come from everywhere. In November, for example, he is due to be a guest speaker at The Economist’s global agenda annual dinner. Gopi accepted when Lord (William) Hague, the new chairman of RUSI (Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies) invited him to one of its sessions where he was pleased to discuss international affairs with Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, both former foreign secretaries.
Gopi receives umpteen invitations and tries to attend as many British Asian functions as possible, often for five minutes because he does not like to give offence by saying no. His contacts apparently extend to the royal family. Although a discreet veil has to be drawn over such matters, the Queen apparently advised Prince Harry to meet the Hindujas to learn more about the Commonwealth.
Harry did meet Gopi to discuss how best to be an effective youth ambassador in the Common wealth. Harry’s team has since been to India and met Hinduja staff there, and it seems likely the prince himself will visit the country soon. One of the qualities that the Hindujas possess collectively is being able to spot potential way ahead of others. This applies as much to their private affairs as it does to their business. Two unrelated examples concern Jennifer Lopez and London electric buses.
Lopez has been at the centre of an Oscar buzz since the release of her latest film, Hustlers, in which she plays one of a group of immoral strippers who fleece even more immoral bankers during the period of the recession in 2008. The Hollywood star’s new prominence brought a smile to Gopi’s lips. Back in 2015, when she was not nearly the centre of such attention, he persuaded J-Lo (as she is also known) one assumes for an appropriate fee, to perform at his son Sanjay’s wedding extravaganza in Udaipur in Rajasthan.
The Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, one of the guests, paid tribute to the Hollywood diva by posting a photograph of J-Lo strutting her stuff on stage. The Hindujas also showed foresight by buying into Optare, a British bus company, long before the need to cut down air pollution in cities became a pressing political issue. As in a game of chess, the first move was made way back in the summer of 2010 when Ashok Leyland, an India-based company, bought a 26 per cent stake in Optare.
In December 2011, this was increased to 75 per cent. In 2011, a new factory came up and by 2012, the old site in East Lancashire was closed and all the manufacturing brought under one roof in Sherburn-in-Elmet in Yorkshire. In June 2015, Optare was delisted from the Alternative Investment Market. In October 2017, Ashok Leyland increased its shareholding to 98 per cent, and in 2018 to 99 per cent.
The market for electric buses is now expanding in London, where Optare is supplying the 32 electric buses that will operate on route 134 from North Finchley station to Tottenham Court Road. Optare said it was “thrilled to partner with Metroline in delivering one of TfL’s first zero-emission double-deck routes”.
Taking delivery of the electric buses, the mayor Sadiq Khan said he was proud to introduce routes which would use only electric buses, indicating he was tackling London’s toxic air that was “causing premature deaths and stunting the growth of children’s lungs”. But it is the Hindujas who had ensured that buses capable of carrying 90 passengers and going 150 miles on a single charge were available in the UK.
Most Londoners would be unaware of the hidden Hinduja influence behind the scenes. Although important for the health of Londoners, the Hinduja involvement in buses is a tiny part of their business. Gopi, as always, has his eye on the larger picture and thinking, as was the case with Optare, several moves ahead.
When it comes to Indo-British relations, Gopi is one of the most influential players. Whatever happens, he says that in the new world order, “India can be Britain’s best friend”. Gopi finally says friends and acquaintances are surprised he does not have a bodyguard and makes himself freely available to one and all.
“You are not scared?” they ask. “For what?” he responds. He tells the GG2 Power List: “I have a private jet – but I don’t travel by private jet. So I go commercial.” Why does he then keep one at such expense? “For emergencies,” he explains. “For example, if I have to go for business somewhere and I have to return the same day and I am not getting a convenient flight, what do I do?
