How did Sri and Gopi Hinduja, the UK's richest people, make their £28.5bn fortune?

Sri and Gopi Hinduja have topped the Sunday Times Rich List with a net worth of £28.47bn: the biggest in the list’s 34-year history.

The brothers, who were second on the list last year, surpassed Sir Leonard Blavatnik after their wealth grew by more than £11bn.

Here, Yahoo News UK takes a look at their background, and how they made their fortune.

Who are Sri and Gopi Hinduja?

Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja are chairman and co-chairman respectively of the Hinduja Group, with Sri recognised as the overall leader.

They inherited the business from their father, Parmanand, who founded it in Mumbai in 1914.

In a rare TV interview with ET Now in 2016, Gopi spoke of his parents’ influence on his approach to business. Of his father, he said his “principles were made at his time [in the 20th century]. But we find they are even applicable today.

“He never believed in documentation. He always believed that if he likes a buyer, or to be associated with someone, he would deal with them.

“He used to treat all his office staff and employees as part of the [family]. He never treated them as servants and even when he used to eat, he used to make them sit around with him.

“More than him, it was my mother. She was not educated. But she used to get instincts if someone was the wrong person [to do business with]. If he had come to meet my father at home for tea or coffee, she used to send a message, writing in Hindi: ‘Be careful’.

“That is how we brothers grew up, so based on that we are more careful on reputation and credibility. Money can come, money can go, but reputation gone takes a long time to bring back.”

Aged 86 and 82, Sri and Gopi have lived extravagantly in London since the 1970s, having joined the family business in 1952 and 1959 respectively.

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Their central London property, in Carlton House Terrace near Buckingham Palace, consists of four interconnected, six-storey Georgian houses - and contains a total 25 bedrooms.

On the Hinduja Group website's "family tree", Sri’s profile is top of a list of four co-chairmen, also including Gopi and their two younger brothers, Prakash and Ashok, who are based outside the UK. It says Sri is “known affectionately as 'SP'” - though it appears recent relations have not been so affectionate.

In 2020, it was reported the three younger brothers were locked in a legal battle with Sri after he said a letter signed by all four siblings in 2014 - which stated “everything belongs to everyone and nothing belongs to anyone” - should be declared not legally binding and that the family's assets should be separated.

What is the Hinduja Group?

Parmanand founded the company 108 years ago, importing textiles, tea and spices from Iran and exporting them to the West.

Within five years, in 1919, he had commenced the company’s international expansion by setting up in Iran, before venturing into merchant banking - setting a pattern for what was to come.

Today, the Hinduja Group is a massive conglomerate, having diversified into sectors and industries including oil, real estate, IT and healthcare. Gopi, meanwhile, is currently leading the company's new focus on the electric vehicle market. It employs 200,000 people around the world.

According to the Rich List, Sri and Gopi have quadrupled their net worth in the past decade, from about £7.5bn in 2012.