Hinduja Group Chairman Gopichand P. Hinduja Passes Away at 85 in London

November 4, 2025

London/New Delhi, Nov 4: Gopichand P. Hinduja, Chairman of the Hinduja Group and one of Britain’s richest men, passed away on Monday at the age of 85 in a London hospital. According to family members, he had been unwell for several weeks.

Gopichand, fondly known as “GP” in business circles, took over as the group’s head following the death of his elder brother Srichand Hinduja in 2023. Together with his siblings, he built the Hinduja Group into a diversified global conglomerate with interests spanning finance, automotive, energy, media, and healthcare.

A Legacy Rooted in Enterprise and Family

Born in 1940 in a Sindhi merchant family in Sindh (now in Pakistan), Gopichand was the second of four Hinduja brothers — Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok.

His grandfather, Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, had founded a small trading and merchant banking business in Iran in 1919, focusing on Indo–Middle East trade. The family later expanded exports of onions, potatoes, and iron ore from India to Iran.

Gopichand spent his early years in Mumbai, graduating from Jai Hind College in 1959. He later received an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Westminster and an Honorary Doctorate of Economics from Richmond College, London.

Those early years instilled in him a deep understanding of business fundamentals — how small trading ventures could evolve into vast industrial networks.

From Bombay to London: The Turning Point

Gopichand joined the family business in 1959. For two decades, he worked alongside his brothers as they built the Hinduja Group’s presence across India and the Middle East.

However, the 1979 Iranian Revolution forced the family to shift its base from Tehran to London, marking a decisive turning point in their journey.

From their new headquarters in London, Gopichand spearheaded the group’s global expansion — particularly in automotive manufacturing, finance, and energy. He became Chairman of Hinduja Automotive Limited and played a crucial role in transforming Ashok Leyland into one of India’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers.

A Global Empire

Under Gopichand’s leadership, the Hinduja Group grew into a multi-billion-dollar global enterprise employing over 200,000 people across 38 countries.

The Group’s flagship companies include Ashok Leyland, IndusInd Bank, Hinduja Global Solutions, and Gulf Oil International.

The Hinduja family regularly featured among the UK’s wealthiest, topping the Sunday Times Rich List multiple times, most recently in 2024 with an estimated fortune exceeding £37 billion (₹3.9 lakh crore).