founded 1914 founder parmanand deepchand hinduja headquarters london united kingdom key people s p hinduja chairman products automotive financial services ites oil and gas media and telecom revenue us 25 billion 2012 owner hinduja family number of employees 72 000 1 subsidiaries list of subsidiaries website hindujagroup.com the hinduja group is an indian conglomerate company headquartered in london united kingdom . contents 1 history 2 hinduja group companies 2.1 ashok leyland ltd 2.2 ashok leyland defence 2.3 gulf oil corporation ltd 2.3.1 gulf oil international 2.4 indusind bank ltd 2.5 hinduja foundries ltd 2.6 hinduja global solutions ltd. 2.7 p. d. hinduja national hospital and medical research centre 2.8 hinduja bank switzerland ltd 3 controversy 3.1 bofors scandal 3.2 2001 hinduja affair 3.3 ashok leyland 4 references 5 external links history edit the company was founded in 1914 by parmanand deepchand hinduja who was from a sindhi hindu family based in india . 2 initially operating in 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 . 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 . 3 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 worth of about us 20 billion . 4 in 2015 at the asian awards the hinduja brothers were honoured with the business leader of the year award . 5 hinduja group companies edit ashok leyland hinduja foundries ltd hinduja bank switzerland ltd indusind bank hinduja leyland finance ltd hinduja global solutions ltd hinduja ventures ltd gulf oil corporation 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 p d hinduja national hospital and medical research centre hinduja healthcare ltd kpb hinduja college of commerce houghton international albonair gmbh germany nxt digital hits ashok leyland ltd edit the hinduja group bought into ashok leyland india s second largest heavy commercial vehicle hcv manufacturer 6 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 3 322 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 . 7 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 edit 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 . 8 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 . 9 gulf oil corporation ltd edit 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 edit 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 edit 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 15 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 150 million and assets of around 200 billion us 3.0 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 edit 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 . citation needed hinduja global solutions ltd. edit 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 40000 employees with offices in north america and london and 65 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 manila in the philippines and dubai in uae . 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 edit 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 edit 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