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The family of Britain’s richest man have described how they have been left with a “deep hole at the heart of our family” after the billionaire died aged 85. Gopichand Hinduja died in London on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for the British-Indian businessman. Mr Hinduja and his family had topped the latest Sunday Times Rich List for the fourth time earlier this year, with a net worth of £35.3 billion. Following his death, his family said in a statement: “He will leave a deep hole at the heart of our family. He will also be remembered for his formidable work.” Mr Hinduja and his family made their fortune from the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group, which spans business sectors including banking and finance, media and entertainment, and energy – and has about 200,000 staff around the world. The group’s chairman, who was commonly known as “GP”, was the second-eldest of four brothers who controlled the business for decades. His older brother Srichand died in 2023 at 87 after suffering from dementia. It is not known who will now take over the leadership of the conglomerate, although the youngest brother Ashok runs its operations across India including truck maker Ashok Leyland. The Hindujas also own significant real estate in London, including a number of large homes near to St James’s Park and Winston Churchill’s Old War Office in Whitehall, which has recently been refurbished to include a hotel. Mr Hinduja has largely kept out of the public eye but was caught up in controversy in 2001 as part of the Hinduja Affair, which led to Lord Peter Mandelson quitting as an MP. The scandal had related to Gopichand writing to Mr Mandelson about obtaining a UK passport for brother Prakash after the Hinduja Foundation – the group’s charitable arm – donated £1 million to the Millennium Dome. Mr Mandelson resigned as a result, but was later cleared of wrongdoing after an inquiry. Beginning in the trading and textile division of his father's company, Mr Hinduja and his brothers expanded the family business into one of the most valuable in the world in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 1980s, the siblings broadened their business interests by purchasing Gulf Oil and Ashok Leyland from British Leyland, and in the 1990s, they opened banks in India and Switzerland. The largest metal fluids manufacturer in the world, Houghton International, was purchased by their Hinduja Group in 2012 for about $1 billion. The Hinduja Group operates in a variety of industries, such as energy, media and entertainment, and banking and finance. Approximately 200,000 people are employed by the conglomerate worldwide.
