Indians are at the helm of UK's rich list
What's the story
Brexit might be a scary term for political analysts, but it appears to be the very premise, on which a new batch of billionaires has surfaced. The Sunday Times list showed that a record number of individuals have amassed sizeable wealth, regardless of EU referendum and its subsequent aftermath. And to make things more interesting, Indians are leading the list of the Britain's rich.
Hinduja brothers
The Hindujas made it to the top
Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, aka the Hinduja brothers, are standing at the top of the list with an estimated worth of £16.2 billion, marking a steep rise of £3.2 billion from what they made last year. A business empire that was started by their father, Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja in Mumbai in 1914, has now spanned into a multinational business empire.
The empire
The widely spread Hinduja empire
The entire business belongs to four brothers, Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok Hinduja. Srichand, 81, and Gopichand, 77, manage the UK interests of Hinduja Group. The group has its fingers in every pie ranging from property development to car manufacturing. Their interests include Gulf Oil, which they acquired in 1984 and Ashok Leyland, a major player in the automobile industry.
Poetic justice
Little bit of justice has been served
Winston Churchill had been an unruly thorn in India's struggle to freedom, with remarks such as, "Power will go into the hands of rascals, rogues, and freebooters" if India got freedom, or calling Mahatma Gandhi "a half naked fakir". The old War Office of Winston Churchill during World War II is now owned by the Hinduja Group and has been converted into a hotel.
Mittal
Lakshmi Mittal has been busy too
Lakshmi Mittal of ArcelorMittal, CEO of the world's largest steelmaking company, stands tall at the fourth position in the rich list after adding an astounding £6 billion to his already massive £13.229 billion fortune. "We expected to see a chilling effect in the run-up to the EU referendum, but that simply did not materialize," Robert Watts, compiler of the rich list said.
UK-billionaires
Brexit failed to make any impact
Fifteen years ago there were only 21 billionaires in UK; it was 120 when the list was last compiled and currently beating the Brexit blues, the rich list has 134 UK-billionaires. Robert Watts, compiler of the rich list said "While many of us worried about the outcome of the EU referendum, many of Britain's richest people just kept calm and carried on making billions."