Hindujas are wealthiest Asians in UK

London: Hinduja brothers have been ranked as Britain's richest Asians in 2014 with a total worth of 13.5 billion pounds, an increase of one billion pounds over the previous year.

At a gala Asian Business Awards 2014 function held at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel here, last night, the group also won the Asian Business of the Year award for its outstanding achievement. G P Hinduja, Co-Chairman of the group and brother of Chairman S P Hinuja, received the award from the Chief Guest Michael Gove, MP, Britain's Secretary of State for Education, in the presence of India's High Commissioner Ranjan Mathai, who was the Guest of Honour.

Gove also released the Asian Rich List, declaring Hinduja group, a conglomerate with interests in banking, oil and manufacturing among many, as the richest in the UK for the second consecutive year. Just behind the group is steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal with a wealth of 12 billion pounds, one billion pounds more than the previous year. Leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul and Angad Paul (Steel) have been listed as 10th richest with wealth amounting to 750 million pounds, whereas mining giant Anil Agrawal was ranked third (2.4 billion pounds) followed by Sri Prakash Lohia (Petrochemicals and textiles) (2 billion pounds).

India's Tata Ltd won the International Business Award. Tatas are the biggest industrial employers in the UK. Dr Rami Ranger, MBE, Founder and Chairman of Sunmark ltd, winner of Queen's award for exports for fifth consecutive year, won the Business Personality Award while Veena Nangla of Brightsun Travel was declared as the Asian Business Woman of the year. Chakra restaurant in London received the Restaurant Award for 2014. According to the Asian Rich List 101 published by EasternEye, one of the publications of the Asian Media & Marketing Group headed by Ramniklal Solanki CBE, there are nine Asians in the UK who can be called billionaires.

The estimated wealth of the 101 Asians in the list totals almost 52 billion pounds - up just over 6 billion pounds on 2013's total. According to the Rich List, the year 2014 is going to be a big one for the Hindujas for it will mark the centenary of the group, which has its headquarters at New Zealand House in Haymarket, London and employs 75,000 people across 35 nations. The Hinduja group has what Gopi Hinduja likes to call 10 'verticals' namely: health, energy, power generation, automotive, finance and banking; oil and gas; IT and BPO; media and cable; real estate; and trading.