GOPI HINDUJA, co-chairman of the Hinduja Group, has put forward detailed plans to Narendra Modi’s government on how Indians living abroad – Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) – could help the Indian economy recover from the pandemic.
“The OCI and NRIs are the real wealth of India,” he declares. “You get $80 billion (£58bn) every year from non-resident Indians. The total savings for the Reserve Bank is $480bn. The OCIs and NRIs may be living abroad but their heart is in their motherland. They always like to see what best they can do for India but they have to be given red carpet treatment so that when their investment comes they don’t have to struggle from state to Centre and from Centre to state.”
“Why don’t they form a state and Centre joint commission?” he suggests. “Life will become much easier and NRIs will get encouragement to bring in foreign investors as well. Geographically, India is well situated between East and West. And here I am talking from my personal experience of the last 60 years.”
He is proud that although the Hinduja empire employs 150,000 people across the world, “not one person has lost his job because of the pandemic”.
The Hindujas set up in pre-partition India, established themselves in the country after independence, flourished in Persia and shifted their headquarters to London after the Iranian revolution in 1979. Today, as Gopi points out, the Hindujas do business with 100 countries and “exist in 48 countries in 12 verticals”.
This includes everything from banking and financial services to healthcare, energy and power generation, automotive, oil and gas, IT and BPO, media and cable, real estate, trading, defence – “and, of course, philanthropy”.
The Eastern Eye Rich List published in 2019 ranked the Hindujas at number one, with net worth valued at £25bn, up by £3bn from the previous year.
Gopi dismisses any notion that the legal action taken by one of his nieces, Vinoo – she is the daughter of his elder brother, Srichand – will affect the influence of the Hinduja family.
“If you are talking of a family feud, there is no family feud,” he tells GG2.
But first, Gopi, who turned 82 in February this year, begins with a little joke.
He chuckles as he asks: “So how is Karuna Devi treating you (so how is the Goddess Karuna treating you)?”
Karuna, which means compassion in Sanskrit, is often used as a first name. But in this instance, karuna is also a play on the word Corona. As far as his own ascetic daily routine is concerned, the pandemic hasn’t changed it very much. When he is at home in London, Gopi, an orthodox though liberal Hindu, says: “When I get up at quarter to five, I first pray to God in my prayer room. Then after a shower I immediately have my meditation. Because of the coronavirus, we have been successful in keeping the family together. We spend more time with the family. And then I walk 14,000- 15,000 steps in St James’s Park, which is about 10-12km, in the morning. I feed the birds, ducks, crows, squirrels – they recognise me more than the food.”
He has not lost a sense of perspective because of the pandemic, grimly serious though he recognises it to be. The Hindujas’ fundamental philosophy of “work to give” and “act local, think global” is inherited from their father, Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, who was born in Shikarpur in Sind (now in Pakistan) on November 25, 1901. He founded the family business when he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1914.
Gopi points out: “We have faced many challenges over the last 100 years – malaria, plague, World Wars I and II, Black Monday. But we have been able to sustain ourselves. The group keeps growing even in the worst of times. You will be surprised that our technology, digitalisation and cyber security firms have been doing good business despite the coronavirus.”
He goes on: “Our father taught us one thing – be global. In business, you have to have different verticals and be spread geographically across the world. Say, if manufacturing is not working well, then perhaps the technology companies will do well. If banking is not doing so good, maybe financing will be good. Fortunately, we are diversified in countries all over the world.”
Gopi often talks about the family’s approach to business. Others might find the Hindujas to be competitive but he says: “I want others to grow as well because the more you help others to grow, the happier you are. We are not going to take money with us when we leave this world. You are going to be judged by your good deeds. There are some who only want to become richer, they want to grow, grow, grow. But, my dear, grow for what?”
He used the Sanskrit word, sanskara, to describe the family’s modus operandi. According to various schools of Indian philosophy, “every action, intent or preparation by an individual leaves a sanskara – impression, impact, imprint – in the deeper structure of a person’s mind. In ancient Indian texts, the theory of sanskara explains how and why human beings remember things, and the effect that memories have on people’s suffering, happiness and contentment.
“Sanskara plays a very important role in life – it goes back to how your parents brought you up,” he says.
Asked about advice he would give to Asian families in the time of the pandemic, he responds: “It is very important for people to have a better understanding of sanskara. You have to understand that only death is certain and that your material wealth is not going to go with you – only your good deeds. Only love and affection are important.
“I would strongly recommend that people try and keep their parivar (family) together. That way they will be happier and more content. We strongly believe that instead of jealousy, anger and unnecessary quarrels, it is united families that offer real strength.”
Among the premier business families of Indian origin in the UK, the Hindujas are unique in being united.
The eldest of the brothers, Srichand Parmanand (SP) Hinduja, now 86, remains the chairman of the group. He was the acknowledged head but he is now effectively out of the picture from the business point of view because he has been suffering from “Lewy Body disease, a form of dementia” for the last few years. “Unfortunately, SP’s health has deteriorated but otherwise in the family, there is no problem,” insists Gopi.
SP and his wife Madhu, who live in London,have two daughters, Shanu and Vinoo, who have been involved in the health and philanthropic sectors. Gopi and his wife Sunita have two sons, Sanjay and Dheeraj, and a daughter, Rita. The third brother, Prakash – he is 76 and based in Geneva – and his wife Kamal have two sons, Ajay and Ramkrishan, and a daughter, Renuka.
And the youngest brother, Ashok – he is 71 and lives in Mumbai – and his wife Harsha have two daughters, Ambika and Satya, and a son, Shom.
On June 23, 2020, Indians all over the world were stunned when it came out that SP’s daughter, Vinoo, had taken legal action against her three uncles, seeking partition of the family’s business. She had acted as her father’s “litigation friend”, it was stated in a judgement delivered by Mrs Justice Falk in the high court.
Back in July 2014, the four brothers had signed a letter that “assets held in any single brother’s name belong to all four”. Vinoo, acting on behalf of her father, had sought a declaration that the letter had no “legal effect, whether as a will, power of attorney, declaration of trust or other binding document”.
Gopi is quite clear that the standing of the Hinduja family is not going to be affected by the legal action being pursued by Vinoo, who is also representing her sister Shanu and mother Madhu. Since SP’s daughters have not been involved in building up the business, Gopi might well be right in believing their exit will not affect the day-to-day running of Ashok Leyland or Gulf Oil, or the rest of the empire.
“After all, we are 34 members (in the immediate joint family),” he points out. “You cannot expect everyone to follow the principles of the four brothers. If one or two children go legal, they are still our children and we still love them, we still like them. But there is nothing which can separate the unity of the family because ‘everything belongs to everyone and nothing belongs to anyone’. ”
That is the philosophy that the four brothers had inherited from their father. Gopi is emphatic: “There are no differences. We are still brothers together. You can announce in big headlines that the four brothers, including Gopi Hinduja, Prakash Hinduja, Ashok Hinduja, remain united with the same mission values and the five ‘work to give’ principles of their father and mother.”
Gopi is not one to allow himself to be knocked off his stride even by a global pandemic. “I love challenges in my life and challenges keep me young,” he laughs. If there are no challenges you don’t enjoy life. And you learn quite a lot along the way.”
He discusses the content of a paper, ‘Reimagining and Reinventing Indian Economy’, which he submitted to Modi.
He says: “The prime minister’s vision is excellent, his thoughts are brilliant, he’s a hard worker and he has done quite a lot for the nation. But India today suffers maximum on implementation and execution. In India, there are so many opportunities to do business but people get tired. For foreign investors who go there, it’s a very slow process.”
His paper states: “At this critical juncture, what India needs is a two-pronged strategy to successfully navigate the current crisis and recover strongly thereafter.
“Minimise the damage caused by Covid and clear a path to recovery.
“Rebooting and reimaging India by promptly exploiting new opportunities unleashed by evolving business scenarios. The three mantras should be bigger, bolder and faster execution of this strategy.”
The paper adds: “The strategy should address four major economic cylinders.
“Big business houses which are a major contributor to GDP and large employment generators from their offices, plants and extended supply chains. MSMEs (micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises) which are lifeline of the country, generating wealth for the middle class.
“Startups which bring innovation and transformation to our country’s economy.”
It goes on: “Our Indian brothers and sisters living abroad, the NRIs and OCIs – they not only serve as unofficial ambassadors of India, their heart beats for India and they, through their contacts, can bring huge investments into India.”
When it comes to combating the effects of the pandemic, the Hinduja Group and its charitable arm, the Hinduja Foundation, have mobilised action across a wide front.
The Hinduja National Hospital and companies, including Ashok Leyland, Gulf Oil International, IndusInd Bank and Hinduja Global Solutions, are all doing their bit.
For example, “the P D Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre, one of our hospitals in Mahim (Mumbai), has dedicated an entire wing to treating Covid-19 patients. Our other hospital Hinduja Healthcare in Khar (Mumbai) is managing a Covid-19 treatment centre for the city government at no-cost basis with the help of the foundation.
“The group’s flagship company, Ashok Leyland – India’s second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer and the world’s fourth largest bus manufacturer – converted over 10 of its Stag-made buses into ambulances to be deployed in Covid hotspots in Thane, an extended suburb of Mumbai.
“Hinduja Global Solutions, a leading service provider, donated over 30,000 reusable face masks to Bengaluru City Police in Karnataka, who have been providing round-the-clock services to keep the city safe. Gulf Oil India launched ‘Gulf Hai Saath’ (Gulf is with you) campaign under which 7,000 mechanics across 30 to 40 cities in India were given food bazaar vouchers or direct bank transfer.
A note says: “The Hinduja Foundation’s work in India, the UK and elsewhere, supports projects in healthcare, education, rural development, water and sanitation, interfaith understanding and the arts.
“In the UK, support has focused on helping hardworking NHS workers and poorer families with cooked meals, including nurses, doctors and others at London hospitals and donations to the Caring Foundation and the Felix Project, which have used kitchens from a number of prestigious London restaurants owned by Richard Caring to provide cooked meals to key workers, poorer families and the homeless during the pandemic.”
In February 2022 Hinduja Global Solutions’ UK subsidiary won a £211m contract from the UK Health Security Agency “to provide critical customer support to UK citizens”.
One thing that can be said for Gopi is that he always makes time for friends. Before the first lockdown, for example, he made a point of turning up when the lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla launched his memoirs, Honour Bound: Adventures of an Indian Lawyer in the English Courts, at the Law Society in London.
Gopi recalls: “That day I had six events but my relationship with him goes back 40 years. These are old relationships. What is the wealth of a human being? Good friends, relationships and humility: if you have these three features you are the wealthiest man in the world.”