Gopichand ‘G.P.’ Hinduja has been named the wealthiest person in Britain on the Sunday Times Rich List for the third consecutive year.
The Hindujas, whose fortune derives from family company Hinduja Group, are worth an estimated £37.196 billion, up from £35 billion in 2023.
[See also: Shalini Hinduja on how Raffles London at The OWO breathes new life into British history]
The family were represented at the Spear’s Awards 2023 by Shalini Hinduja, G.P.’s daughter-in-law, who accepted the Entrepreneur of the Year award in recognition of the family’s extraordinary transformation of the Old War Office on Whitehall into the five-star Raffles London at The OWO.
The 350 individuals and families ranked in the Rich List have a combined net worth of £795.361 billion.
Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who controls Warner Music Group, music service Deezer and sports streaming outfit DAZN, moves up one place to second in the annual ranking, followed by property heavyweights David and Simon Reuben and family. Among the Reubens Brothers’ latest projects is an ambitious £1 billion regeneration of Mayfair.
[See also: One Carrington: A first look inside Reuben Brothers’ £1bn Mayfair regeneration project]
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir James Dyson and family, who take fourth and fifth place, respectively, are among those who have seen the biggest fall in their wealth year-on-year. Ratcliffe’s fortune is down by more than £6 billion, while the Dysons have seen a £2 billion drop.
Sunday Times Rich List winners include Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family, who have a large stake in Cathay Pacific and extensive holdings in Asia, and shipping tycoon Idan Ofer, both of whom make the top 10 and have seen their wealth grow year-on-year.
However, there has been an overall decline in the number of billionaires in Britain.
[See also: Where have all the UK billionaires gone?]
Aggressive taxes and business regulation, and the lessening appeal of the London Stock Exchange, are among the factors that have been blamed for the billionaire exodus.
The UK’s corporation tax rate is now 25 per cent (up from 19 per cent until April 2023), while the top income tax rate is 45 per cent.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s pledge to end the non-dom regime – the favourable basis of taxation which the UK has applied to overseas nationals for more than 200 years – is among the most recent blows to wealthy residents.
[See also: Scrapping the non-dom regime: Hunt must proceed with caution]
Arabella Murphy, the founding director of Propitious, a strategic consultancy focusing on HNW risk planning, family governance and mediation, recently wrote in Spear’s warning that Britain faces losing even more of its wealth creators unless policy changes are introduced.
The Times notes that tech entrepreneur Johnny Boufarhat, private equity tycoon John Grayken, mining magnate Telis Mistakidis and shipping heir Trond Mohn are among those who have left Britain for countries including Ireland, Greece and Switzerland.
