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The head of Britain's richest family , with an estimated net worth upwards of £35 billion, has died aged 85. Gopichand Hinduja passed away in London on Tuesday after a prolonged illness, according to a spokesperson for the British-Indian businessman. The billionaire industrialist earned his fortune, estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List to be at £35.3bn , from the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group, which spans business sectors including banking and finance, media and entertainment, and energy, with roughly 200,000 staff around the world. Mr Hinduja, who was commonly known as 'GP', joined the family business in 1959 after graduating from Mumbai’s Jai Hind College, later earning a doctorate in law from the University of Westminster in 1996. “He will leave a deep hole at the heart of our family. He will also be remembered for his formidable work," the family said in a statement. The Hinduja Group chairman was the second-eldest of four brothers who controlled the business for decades. Older brother Srichand died in 2023, aged 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 family had moved to London in the 1980s, and it was there that they led the Hinduja Group’s rise from a modest trading outfit into a diversified global enterprise. Today, they also own significant real estate in London, including several large homes around 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 related to Mr Hinduja writing to Mr Mandelson about obtaining a UK passport for his 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. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters .
