PTI, London: The Indian-born Hinduja brothers have been displaced to second position by chemicals entrepreneur Jim Ratcliffe in an annual rich list of Britain’s wealthiest released today.
London-based Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja are listed with an estimated fortune of around 20.64 billion pounds, compared to Ratcliffe’s 21.05 billion pounds, in the ‘Sunday Times Rich List’.
They lead nearly 47 Indian-origin super-rich in the 2018 list of the UK’s 1,000 wealthiest people. “Britain is changing. Gone are the days when old money and a small band of industries dominated the ‘Sunday Times Rich List’. Aristocrats and inherited wealth has been elbowed out of the list and replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs,” notes Robert Watts, who compiled the list.
“Today’s super rich include people who have set up businesses selling chocolate, sushi, pet food and eggs. We’re seeing more people from humble backgrounds, who struggled at school or who didn’t even start their businesses until well into middle age,” he said.
Ratcliffe, described as a self-made British-born industrialist who came from very humble beginnings to launch chemical firm Ineos, has jumped to top place from 18th in 2017 by amassing nearly 15.3 billion pounds over the past year.
“London-based Gopi, 78, and Sri, 82, oversee the family empire. Brothers Prakash, 72, and Ashok, 67, are based in Geneva and Mumbai respectively,” the list notes in reference to the Hinduja brothers, who saw a hike in their fortunes of around 4.44 billion pounds over the past year but missed out on the top spot this year.
“Today investments span oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare. The biggest successes over the past year have been their Indian automotive manufacturer Ashok Leyland and the Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank, the share prices of which have respectively risen by 49 per cent and 27 per cent,” it adds.
British-American industrialist-turned-media mogul Sir Len Blavatnik came in at third place with 15.26 billion pounds. Another set of India-born entrepreneurial brothers, David and Simon Reuben, moved down from third to fourth place, with a fortune of 15.09 billion pounds and steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal moved down from fourth to fifth place with 14.66 billion pounds.
Mittal, 67, provides the steel for one in four of the world’s cars. After some trying times, the Indian tycoon’s empire resumed paying dividends earlier this year, having suspended them in 2015, the rich list notes.
Another high-ranked Indian-origin businessmen on the list is Sri Prakash Lohia, owner of Singapore-headquartered Indorama group, with an estimated 5.15 billion pound fortune and ranked 25th.
India-born healthcare and foreign exchange magnate Bavaguthu Shetty makes his debut on the list at No 59 with GBP 2.38 billion.
He is followed at No. 60 by retailers Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora with an estimated 2.3 billion pounds. Bengaluru-headquartered Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is on the list at No. 75 alongside her Scottish husband, John, with GBP 1.75 billion.
Leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul and family mark a significant revival of fortunes after registering a hike in wealth of around 840 million pounds over the last year to come in at No 90 with an estimated fortune of 1.5 billion pounds.
“Paul’s business interests are thriving again. Profits at Bull Moose Industries more than doubled to nearly 48 million pounds on sales of 370.4 million pounds in 2016 after an earlier decline in the steel industry pushed his main UK operation into administration,” the analysis concludes.
Some of the other billionaires with roots in India to make the cut this year include pharmaceutical majors Navin and Varsha Engineer (1.14 billion pounds) at No 96, property tycoons Raj, Tony and Harpal Matharu (1.3 billion pounds) at No. 105, and hotelier Jasminder Singh and family (1.06 billion pounds) at No. 131.
