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Hinduja Group

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Hinduja Group
Company typePrivate
IndustryConglomerate
Founded1914
FounderParmanand Deepchand Hinduja
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
S P Hinduja, (Chairman)
ProductsAutomotive, financial services, ITES, oil and gas, media and telecom
RevenueIncrease US$ 25 billion (2012)
OwnerHinduja family
Number of employees
72,000[1]
SubsidiariesList of subsidiaries
Websitehindujagroup.com

The Hinduja Group is a global conglomerate company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

History

The company was founded in 1914 by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, who was from a Hindu family based in Sindh, now Pakistan's southern most province. Initially operating in Mumbai, India, he set up the company's first international operation in Iran in 1919, dubbing Hindi films into the Persian language. The headquarters of the group moved to Iran where it remained until 1979, when the Islamic Revolution forced it to move to Europe.

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 conservative, vegetarian and teetotallers, and dress in similar ways, with a preference for black suits and round glasses.[2]

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 2014, Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja emerged as the richest men in Britain with a net wealth of about $20 billion.[3]

Hinduja Group companies

Ashok Leyland Ltd

The Hinduja Group bought into Ashok Leyland, India’s second largest HCV manufacturer,[4] in 1987. It was the group’s first foray into India.

The company has a large export market, including a 65% plus market share in Sri Lanka (in the 16 ton plus category) and enjoys a similar market share in the bus segment in Dubai. During 2003-2005, the company executed an order of 3322 trucks for Iran under the UN’s oil and food programme, the largest ever in the Indian commercial vehicle industry.

The company is a pioneer in CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) buses and special vehicles for the armed forces, both of which have opened up additional export opportunities for the company.[5]

The company had acquired 100% of the paid-up capital of Defiance Testing and Engineering Services, Inc (DTE) based near Detroit, Michigan, USA, in May 2007. DTE provides independent testing services for leading auto OEM's and their tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers. In October, 2013, Ashok Leyland sold DTE to Exova, a testing services company based in the UK.

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.[6] 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.[7]

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 Rs 1 billion 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 Rs 10 billion and assets of around Rs 200 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.

The company has been growing at the rate of around 42% CAGR (Sales - 32 to 100 million $) during 2002-3 to 2006-7.

Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd.

Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (formerly HTMT Global Solutions) commenced its IT operations in 1993. It provides outsourcing solutions including Back office processing, contact center, and customized IT services to a global clientele comprising several Fortune 500 companies. Hinduja Global Solutions began as an IT consulting firm specializing in providing solutions centered on a mainframe platform, in partnership with IBM. In 1995, the company entered corporate training in mainframes.

The company has 24000 employees with offices in North America and London, and 51 delivery centers spread across Bangalore, Mysore, Mumbai, Nagercoil, Chennai, Durgapur, 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, and Manila in the Philippines.

The Contact Center and Back Office Services Division houses international voice centers 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.

HTMT’s acquisitions have made the company into one of the top Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in India, with a customer base of 65 clients and revenues of US$200 million. Its Mauritius center supports the French-speaking population, and its Texas center 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.

P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre

The P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Mumbai is a multi-speciality tertiary care hospital with a medical research center set up in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston. The hospital has an inpatient capacity of 350 beds including of 53 critical care beds in the specialties. As a tertiary care hospital, it offers services covering investigations and diagnosis to therapy, surgery, and post-operative care. It is the first tertiary care hospital to have been awarded ISO 9002 certification from KEMA, Netherlands, for Quality management systems, and was awarded the "Golden Peacock Global Award" for philanthropy in emerging economies (2006).

The hospital has treated 1.5 million outpatients, and performed a million surgeries and 7.5 million lab investigations. Its laboratory is the first hospital laboratory to be accredited by the College of American Pathologists.

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,Basle and Lugano. Additionally it has a global presence in London, Dubai, Paris, New York, Mauritius and Chennai. Over the years, its businesses have expanded to include Wealth Management, Trade Finance Services, Global Investment Solutions and Corporate Finance Services.[8]

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 $1.3bn 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,[9] 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 2.5bn rupees ($57m) of public money was spent on the case. It has caused huge economical, emotional, professional and personal loss to the Hindujas."[10]

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,[11][12] 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.[13]

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.[14]

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 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."[15]

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.[16]

In March Vaz was ordered to fully co-operate with a new inquiry launched into his financial affairs by Elizabeth Filkin. 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.[17][18]

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.[19] 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.[20]

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".[21]

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.[22]

References

  1. ^ (About) our group, Hinduja Group
  2. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/this-is-dynasty-indianstyle-1323548.html
  3. ^ "India-born Hinduja brothers emerge as the richest men in Britain". IANS. news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  4. ^ Retrieved 12 November 2008.
  5. ^ Retrieved 12 November 2008
  6. ^ [1] [2], Ashok Leyland Defence Systems
  7. ^ Ashok Leyland largest supplier of logistics vehicles to Indian Army. Over 60,000 Stallions.[3]
  8. ^ "Swiss Private Bank - Hinduja Bank (Switzerland) Ltd". Hinduja Bank. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  9. ^ BBC News - Bofors charges against Hindujas
  10. ^ BBC News - Q&A: Hinduja Bofors case
  11. ^ "BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Mandelson resigns over Hinduja affair". News.bbc.co.uk. 24 January 2001. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  12. ^ "No. 56106". The London Gazette. 31 January 2001.
  13. ^ Grice, Andrew (22 January 2001). "MPs to quiz Mandelson on passport for Hinduja". The Independent. London.
  14. ^ Sengupta, Kim (26 January 2001). "Vaz sidesteps questions on links with Hindujas". The Independent. London.
  15. ^ Waugh, Paul; Kim Sengupta (27 January 2001). "Vaz defiant over his role in Hinduja passport scandal". The Independent. London.
  16. ^ Woolf, Marie (30 January 2001). "Hindujas held party to celebrate Vaz being appointed a minister". The Independent. London.
  17. ^ Woolf, Marie (22 March 2001). "Filkin launches new investigation into cash links between Vaz and Hindujas". The Independent. London.
  18. ^ Grice, Andrew; Stephen Castle (24 March 2001). "Downing Street orders Vaz to help inquiry". The Independent. London.
  19. ^ George, Jones; Womack, Sarah (19 June 2001), "Vaz admits greater role over Hinduja passport", The Daily Telegraph, London
  20. ^ Woolf, Marie; Andrew Morris (12 June 2001). "After months of claims and counter claims, Vaz is finally sacked as Minister for Europe". The Independent. London.
  21. ^ Wintour, Patrick (24 December 2001). "Vaz cleared over Hinduja payments to wife". The Guardian. London.
  22. ^ Quadripartite Committee - Memorandum from Mark Thomas
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