Hinduja Group chairman SP Hinduja passes away in London at 87

SP Hinduja, 87, eldest of four Hinduja brothers and Hinduja Group chairman, died in London on Wednesday. He was unwell for some time, said the family spokesperson. Hinduja was chairman of the eponymous business group which owns publicly listed companies in India across banking, chemicals, information technology and commercial vehicles.

After completing his education in 1952, Srichand P Hinduja joined his father PD Hinduja, the founder of Hinduja Group, in the family business. SP Hinduja, a British national, is survived by three brothers, namely Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok and two daughters, Shanu and Vinoo. SP Hinduja had suffered from a form of dementia. His wife Madhu died in January 2023.

''Gopichand, Prakash, Ashok and the whole Hinduja family with a heavy heart regret to announce the passing away of our family patriarch, and chairman of Hinduja Group, Mr S P Hinduja today,'' a spokesperson for the family said. The Hinduja family patriarch and his brothers, Gopichand and Prakash, were accused of receiving nearly SEK 81 million in illegal commissions to help Swedish gunmaker AB Bofors secure an Indian government contract. A court had however exonerated them.

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"SP Hinduja was a visionary and mentor to the family bestowing the founding principles and values of our late father, PD Hinduja. He played a very important role alongside his brothers in building a strong relationship between his host country, the UK and his home country, India. A titan amongst his peers, S P Hinduja truly lived and embodied the Hinduja Group’s founding principles and values. A deeply spiritual and philanthropic person, he was courageous in action and generous at heart. His loss has left a huge void as the brothers have always been four bodies and one soul," said the family spokesperson on Wednesday.

Hinduja and his younger brother Gopichand, 83, topped The Sunday Times Rich List in 2022 for a fourth time, with an estimated net worth of 28.5 billion pounds ($36 billion).

Hinduja family's apparent truce over the future of its global business empire was at risk last month when SP Hinduja's younger brother Gopichand, 83, had challenged the legitimacy of a lasting power of attorney granted to Srichand's daughters, Vinoo and Shanu.

A ruling published in November said the Hindujas' lawyers had told a UK judge in June that they would end "all disputes existing between them in all jurisdictions", including a lawsuit at London's High Court over the Hinduja family's assets.

A Hinduja Group firm on Wednesday emerged as the highest bidder with an offer of Rs 9,650 crore to take over debt-ridden Reliance Capital in the second round of auction.

The bid by IndusInd International Holdings Ltd (IIHL) is higher than Rs 8,640 crore offer made by Torrent Investments in the first round of auction held in December last year.

The group’s biggest assets include a stake in IndusInd Bank Ltd worth about $3 billion and real estate in India worth more than $2.5 billion.

The conglomerate acquired truck-maker Ashok Leyland Ltd. and Gulf Oil International during the 1980s, and Hinduja personally founded private banks based in Switzerland and India (IndusInd Ltd) the following decade.

With inputs from agencies