Hinduja Group

The Hinduja Group is an Indian conglomerate company based in Mumbai, India and headquartered in London, United Kingdom [3] The company is involved in a wide range of activities including foundries, import export, trading, motor vehicles, banking, call centres and healthcare.[4]

Hinduja Group
Private
IndustryConglomerate
Founded1914
FounderParmanand Deepchand Hinduja
HeadquartersLondon, England, United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
S. P. Hinduja (chairman), Gopichand Hinduja (co-chairman), Prakash Hinduja (chairman, Europe), Ashok Hinduja (chairman, India)
ProductsAutomotive, financial services, ITES, oil and gas, media, telecom and healthcare
Revenue US$50 billion (2018)[1]
OwnerHinduja family
Number of employees
72,000[2]
SubsidiariesList of subsidiaries
Websitehindujagroup.com

History

The company was founded in 1914 by Parmanand Deepchandh Hinduja, who was from a Sindhi family based in India.[5] Initially operating in Karachi and Mumbai, India, he set up the company's first international operation in Iran in 1919. The headquarters of the group moved to Iran where it remained until 1979, when the Islamic Revolution forced it to move to Europe.[6]

Srichand Hinduja and his brother Gopichand moved to London in 1979 to develop the export business; Prakash manages the group's finances in Geneva, Switzerland while the youngest brother, Ashok, oversees the Indian interests. The brothers are all devout Hindu, vegetarian and teetotallers, and dress in similar ways, with a preference for black suits and round glasses.[7]

Under the leadership of its chairman, Srichand, today the Hinduja Group has become one of the largest diversified groups in the world. The group employs over 70,000 people and has offices in cities of the world and all the major cities in India. In 2017, Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja were described as the wealthiest men in Britain with an estimated wealth of £16.2 billion in the Sunday Times Rich List 2017.[8]

In 2015, at The Asian Awards, the Hinduja brothers were honoured with the Business Leader of the Year Award.[9]

Hinduja Group companies
  • Ashok Leyland
  • Hinduja Healthcare Limited
  • Hinduja Foundries Ltd
  • Hinduja Bank (Switzerland) Ltd
  • IndusInd Bank
  • Hinduja Housing Finance
  • Hinduja Leyland Finance Ltd
  • Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd
  • Gulf Oil International Ltd
  • Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited
  • Gulf Oil Middle East Ltd
  • Hinduja National Power Corporation Ltd
  • IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd
  • IDL Specialty Chemicals Ltd
  • Hinduja Realty Ventures Ltd
  • Ashok Leyland Wind Energy Ltd
  • Hinduja Tech Limited (formerly Defiance Technologies Limited)
  • Hinduja Group India Limited
  • KPB Hinduja College of Commerce
  • Houghton International
  • Albonair GmbH, Germany
  • NxtDigital Ltd (formerly Hinduja Ventures Ltd) including Nxt Digital HITS
  • Cyqurex Systems Private Limited
  • almansoori

Ashok Leyland Ltd

Ashok Leyland, a flagship business of Hinduja group, is the 2nd largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in India, 4th largest manufacturer of buses in the world and 10th largest manufacturer of trucks globally.[10][11] The company has its footprints across 50 countries and is headquartered in Chennai.[12] It has 9 manufacturing plants around the world with 7 manufacturing plants in India and one each in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE and Leeds, England.[13][14]

Ashok Leyland recorded a sales turnover of Rs. 19,877 crores in year ending March 2016.[15] In late 2016, Ashok Leyland launched India's first electric bus aiming to penetrate the electric/hybrid vehicles market.[16][17][18]

The company became the first truck and bus manufacturer outside of Japan to win the Deming Prize for its Pantnagar plant.[19][20][21] In 2016, Interbrand India nominated Ashok Leyland as the 38th most valuable brand in India.[22]

Ashok Leyland Defence

The Hinduja group has formed as an independent company to spearhead its defence business. Ashok Leyland Defence Systems, is the newly floated company by the Hinduja Group. Ashok Leyland, the flagship company of Hinduja group, holds 26 percent in the newly formed Ashok Leyland Defence Systems (ALDS), which has a mandate to design and develop defence logistics and tactical vehicles, defence communication and other systems. Dr V. Sumantran, executive vice chairman, Hinduja Automotive Limited, heads the new venture.[23] Ashok Leyland is the largest supplier of logistics vehicles to the Indian Army. It has supplied over 60,000 of its Stallion vehicles which form the Army's logistics backbone.[24]

Hinduja Healthcare Limited

Hinduja Healthcare Limited is a business vertical and philanthropic arm of the group. It owns and operates the Hinduja Hospital and Hinduja Healthcare Surgical, both located in Mumbai. Its Chief Executive Officer is Gautam Khanna.[25]

It has plans to expand its nationwide capacity to 5,000 beds,[26][27] besides setting up radiology and pathology diagnostic centres, emergency ambulance services and pharmacy retail outlets across India.[28]

The P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Mumbai is a multi-speciality tertiary care hospital with a medical research centre set up in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston.

Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd

The chemical hub of the Hinduja Group was strengthened by the merger of Gulf Oil India Limited with IDL Industries Limited, which became effective from 1 January 2002.

The company has four major operating divisions:

  • Commercial Explosives - handling explosives, detonators, explosive bonded metal clads and special devices for defense and space applications. It has eight plants in India, its Hyderabad plant being the largest detonator manufacturing facility in the world (192 million per annum). It is the largest exporter of explosives and detonators to 21 countries, including the Philippines and countries in South East Asia, North Africa, the Persian Gulf, the Middle East, and Southern Europe.
  • Lubricants - lubricants, greases, and car accessories. Set up in 1993, and now the second largest private sector lubricant oil manufacturer in India.
  • Mining and Infrastructure - undertakes large scale mining services in coal and iron ore, plus services to the infrastructure sector such as underground metro railways and national highways. It is executing two large projects for Coal India Ltd. The division has a major presence in the iron ore mining sector where it is working in very large mines rich in iron ore.
  • Speciality Chemicals - manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients, intermediates, and finished forms such as tablets, capsules, injectables and liquids. Also undertakes contract research and development services. Manufacturing based in Hyderabad.

Gulf Oil International

Gulf Oil International, which operates from London offices, is one of the largest petroleum companies and petroleum product traders in the world, operating in more than 83 countries through a network of own companies, joint ventures, licensees, and distributors. It employs 3000 people directly worldwide, with indirect employment touching 30,000.

It has filling stations in most countries in Europe, parts of South America, and Indonesia. It markets car batteries, car care products, vehicle air filters, lubrication machinery, and speciality chemicals in many countries. The company operates its Gulf Express chain of car service centres in Saudi Arabia and is planning to expand into Bahrain and other countries in the Middle East.

Gulf Oil International is one of the biggest petroleum product traders in the world, with a large plant in China and expanding into the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific Region, with entries announced into Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and China, and expansion projects in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and India.

IndusInd Bank Ltd

IndusInd Bank is a private sector bank, and is the only Indian bank to have been founded by NRIs (Non-resident Indians), and the only commercial bank in India to receive ISO-9001:2000 certification for its branch network. It began its operation in 1994 with a capital of ₹1 billion (US$14 million) and with a focus on corporate and SME lending, and following its merger with Ashok Leyland Finance Ltd (ALFL) in 2004, has had an increasing emphasis on retail banking, and has grown into a bank with capital of ₹10 billion (US$140 million) and assets of around ₹200 billion (US$2.8 billion). It has a customer base of 1.5 million and a network of 400 branches and 600 off-site ATMs (as on 31 March 2012) spread across 141 geographical locations pan India.

The bank has representative overseas offices in Dubai and London, and correspondent banking relationships with 335 banks worldwide. The bank has entered into strategic alliances with Union National Bank in the United Arab Emirates and Doha Bank in Qatar to enhance its NRI business. The bank's national reach is extended further through its marketing arrangements for loan products through an associate firm, IndusInd Marketing and Financial Services, which has 745 marketing outlets across the country. The bank has secured high domestic investment-grade ratings for its financial instruments from the local subsidiaries of S&P, Moody's and Fitch.

Hinduja Foundries Ltd

Hinduja Foundries is a five decades old company catering to the casting needs of the automobile OEMs in India. It has three manufacturing plants in operation in Southern India. Around 30% of the vehicles rolled out in India (cars, commercial vehicles and tractors) have major castings supplied by the company. A modern new green field foundry was set up in Sriperumbudur near Chennai with an R&D centre and started its production in 2007.in 2019 Hinduja group is India's third most richest people after Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.

Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd.

Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (formerly HTMT Global Solutions) began as an IT consulting firm specializing in providing solutions centred on a mainframe platform, in partnership with IBM. In 1995, the company entered corporate training in mainframes.

The company has 40000 employees with offices in North America and London, and 65 "delivery centres" spread across Bangalore, Mysore, Mumbai, Nagercoil, Chennai, Durgapur, Noida, Siliguri and Hyderabad in India; Lyndhurst, Peoria, Illinois, St Louis, Waterloo, and El Paso in the United States; Montreal, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario in Canada, Cyber City in Mauritius, Manila in the Philippines and Dubai in UAE.

The Contact Centre and Back Office Services Division houses "international voice centres" and back office processing units for Health insurance, Pharmaceuticals, Life sciences, Telecom, Banking and Financial services, Consumer electronics / Products, Technology, Automotive, Government, Media and Entertainment, Energy and Utilities and Transportation and Logistics companies.

Its Mauritius centre supports the French-speaking population, and its Texas centre provides support in Spanish.

InCablenet is one of the companies which come under the umbrella of Hinduja TMT or HTMT. It is part of its foray into Media and Communications.

Hinduja Bank (Switzerland) Ltd

Hinduja Bank (Switzerland) Ltd was founded as a finance company in 1978 and became a Swiss regulated bank in 1994.

Hinduja Bank has its headquarters in Geneva and has a network in Switzerland including offices in Lucerne, Zurich, St Margrethen, Basel and Lugano. Additionally it has a global presence in London, Dubai, Paris, New York, Mauritius and Chennai. Over the years, its businesses expanded to include Wealth Management, Trade Finance Services, Global Investment Solutions and Corporate Finance Services.[29]

Controversy

Bofors scandal
Main article: Bofors scandal

Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash Hinduja have been connected with the investigation into the Bofors scandal, in which Swedish firm Bofors was alleged to have paid illegal bribes to Government officials and politicians in connection with the US$1.3 billion sale of 400 howitzers to the Indian Government in 1986. The three brothers were charged by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation in October 2000,[30] but in 2005 the High Court in Delhi threw out all charges against them, citing a lack of evidence and saying that documents central to the prosecution case were "useless and dubious" since their provenance could not be verified. Judge RS Sodhi said: "I must express my disapproval that 14 years of trial and ₹2.5 billion (US$35 million) of public money was spent on the case. It has caused huge economical, emotional, professional and personal loss to the Hindujas."[31]

2001 Hinduja affair

In January 2001, it was revealed that UK government Minister Peter Mandelson had telephoned Home Office minister Mike O'Brien on behalf of Srichand Hinduja, who was at the time seeking British citizenship, and whose family firm was to become the main sponsor of the "Faith Zone" in the Millennium Dome. Consequently, on 24 January 2001 Mandelson resigned from the Government for a second time,[32][33] insisting he had done nothing wrong. An independent enquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond came to the conclusion that neither Mandelson nor anyone else had acted improperly.

In January 2001, immigration minister Barbara Roche revealed in a written Commons reply that Keith Vaz, Member of Parliament for Leicester East and at the time a Foreign Office minister, and other MPs, had also contacted the Home Office about the Hinduja brothers, saying that Vaz had made inquiries about when a decision on their application for citizenship could be expected.[34]

On 25 January, Vaz became the focus of Opposition questions about the Hinduja affair and many parliamentary questions were tabled, demanding that he fully disclose his role. Vaz said via a Foreign Office spokesman that he would be "fully prepared" to answer questions put to him by Sir Anthony Hammond QC who had been asked by the Prime Minister to carry out an inquiry into the affair. Vaz said that he had known the Hinduja brothers for some time; he had been present when the charitable Hinduja Foundation was set up in 1993, and had also delivered a speech in 1998 when the brothers invited Tony and Cherie Blair to a Diwali celebration.[35]

On 26 January 2001, Prime Minister Tony Blair was accused of prejudicing the independent inquiry into the Hinduja passport affair, after he declared that Keith Vaz had not done "anything wrong". On the same day, Vaz told reporters that they would "regret" their behaviour once the facts of the case were revealed. "Some of you are going to look very foolish when this report comes out. Some of the stuff you said about Peter, and about others and me, you'll regret very much when the facts come out," he said. When asked why the passport application of one of the Hinduja brothers had been processed more quickly than normal, being processed and sanctioned in six months when the process can take up to two years, he replied, "It is not unusual."[36]

On 29 January, the government confirmed that the Hinduja Foundation had held a reception for Vaz in September 1999 to celebrate his appointment as the first Asian Minister in recent times. The party was not listed by Vaz in the House of Commons Register of Members' Interests and John Redwood, then head of the Conservative Parliamentary Campaigns Unit, questioned Vaz's judgement in accepting the hospitality.[37]

In March, Vaz was ordered to fully co-operate with a new inquiry launched into his financial affairs by Elizabeth Filkin, who was Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards at the time. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Vaz's superior, also urged him to fully answer allegations about his links with the Hinduja brothers. Mr Vaz met Mrs Filkin on 20 March to discuss a complaint that the Hinduja Foundation had given the sum of £1,200 to Mapesbury Communications, a company run by his wife, in return for helping to organise a Hinduja-sponsored reception at the House of Commons. Vaz had previously denied receiving money from the Hindujas, but insisted that he made no personal gain from the transaction in question.[38][39]

In June 2001, Vaz admitted that he had made representations during the Hinduja brothers' applications for British citizenship while a backbench MP. Tony Blair also admitted that Vaz had "made representations" on behalf of other Asians.[40] On 11 June 2001 Vaz was dismissed from his post as Europe Minister, to be replaced by Peter Hain. The Prime Minister's office said that Vaz had written to Tony Blair stating he wished to stand down for health reasons.[41]

In December 2001, Elizabeth Filkin cleared Vaz of failing to register payments to his wife's law firm by the Hinduja brothers, but said that he had colluded with his wife to conceal the payments. Filkin's report said that the payments had been given to his wife for legal advice on immigration issues and concluded that Vaz had gained no direct personal benefit, and that Commons rules did not require him to disclose payments made to his wife. She did, however, criticise him for his secrecy, saying, "It is clear to me there has been deliberate collusion over many months between Mr Vaz and his wife to conceal this fact and to prevent me from obtaining accurate information about his possible financial relationship with the Hinduja family".[42]

Ashok Leyland

In February 2005 Ashok Leyland, an India-based flagship company of the brothers' Hinduja Group, announced an agreement to supply 100 army vehicles to the Sudanese Defence Ministry. It was alleged by arms campaigner Mark Thomas that this contravened UK arms export legislation, as a number of the company's directors were UK residents or citizens.[43]

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