Gopichand Hinduja, who acquired and turned around struggling Ashok Leyland, dies
London (PTI): Gopichand P Hinduja, the head of Britain's richest family, who was named as an accused in the Bofors scam with his two brothers, died in London at the age of 85.
Fondly known as 'GP' in business circles, Gopichand P Hinduja was unwell for the past few weeks and died in a London hospital, sources close to his family said.
Born in 1940, Gopichand was the second of the four Hinduja brothers who built the group into a global conglomerate, spanning automotive, energy, banking, and infrastructure. After the death of his elder brother Srichand Hinduja in 2023, he took charge as the chairman of the 35 billion pound Hinduja Group.
He is survived by his wife, Sunita, sons Sanjay and Dheeraj, and daughter, Rita.
A graduate of Jai Hind College, Mumbai (1959), Gopichand began his career in the family's trading business in Tehran before expanding its reach across continents.
Under his leadership, the group acquired Gulf Oil in 1984, closely followed by the acquisition of the then-struggling Indian automotive manufacturer, Ashok Leyland, in 1987, which was the first major NRI investment in India.
Today, Ashok Leyland is regarded as one of the most successful turnaround stories ever in Indian corporate history.
He was also the visionary behind the Group's forays into power and infrastructure sectors, spearheading the task of shaping the conglomerate's plan for building multi-GW energy generation capacity in India.
Known for his understated style and deep commitment to family values, he was honoured with an honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Westminster and an Honorary Doctorate of Economics from Richmond College, London, as per the group's website.
He and his two other brothers - Srichand and Prakash Hinduja - were accused of receiving payments totalling Rs 64 crore in illegal commissions to help Swedish gunmaker AB Bofors secure an Indian contract. All three were, however, exonerated by the Delhi High Court in 2005.
Gopichand Hinduja and his family retained their position as Britain's wealthiest, according to the latest The Sunday Times Rich List, despite a drop in their overall fortune. The Hinduja family's net worth stands at 35.3 billion pounds, down from 37.2 billion pounds the previous year.
Their UK property assets include the 67,000 square feet 18th-century Carlton House Terrace near Buckingham Palace and the historic Old War Office building in Whitehall, now home to the Raffles London hotel, which opened in September 2023 to great fanfare.
The family, however, feuded over the vast wealth. After the death of the eldest brother, Srichand, in 2023, it emerged that Gopichand and his two younger brothers - Prakash, 79, and Ashok, 74, had been fighting over the past three years with the patriarch and his daughter, Vinoo, over a 2014 letter signed by the four siblings that said assets held by one of them belonged to all.
While the family called a truce on the bitter power struggle, reports suggest they're still privately haggling on related issues.
Their father, Parmanand, founded their namesake business in 1914 in the Sindh region of British India, trading in carpets, tea and spices. In 1919, he moved from Sindh (then in India, now Pakistan) to Iran, and his sons joined as the group rapidly diversified investments, with early success distributing Bollywood films outside India.
Parmanand, who died in 1971, instilled in his sons a mantra they pledged to follow: "Everything belongs to everyone and nothing belongs to anyone". The siblings, however, feuded over control of the vast business empire and have reportedly agreed to effectively dump the letter, raising the prospect of a breakup for their conglomerate.
The Hinduja empire included the only Indian-owned Swiss bank, SP Hinduja Banquee Privee, with headquarters in Geneva. Its assets include Mumbai-based lender IndusInd Bank Ltd and a property investment firm that has bought more than 250 acres of land in major Indian cities.
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Texas halts H-1B visas at state universities, agencies; to affect Indians
Houston (US) (PTI): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately halt new H-1B visa petitions, tightening hiring rules at taxpayer-funded institutions, a step likely to impact Indian professionals.
The freeze will remain in effect through May 2027.
The directive issued on Tuesday said that the state agencies and public universities must stop filing new petitions unless they receive written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor's order, in a red state that is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders, comes as the Trump administration has initiated steps to reshape the visa programme.
“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa programme, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that programme to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbot said.
Institutions must also report on H-1B usage, including numbers, job roles, countries of origin, and visa expiry dates, the letter said.
US President Donald Trump on September 19 last year signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricted the entry into the US of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 1,00,000.
The H1-B visa fee of USD 1,00,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, i.e. all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery.
Indians make up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with China in the second spot. The major fields include technology, engineering, medicine, and research.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with 5,505 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon (10,044 workers on H-1B visas), according to the USCIS. Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Texas public universities employ hundreds of foreign faculty and researchers, many from India, across engineering, healthcare, and technology fields.
Date from Open Doors -- a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the US -- for 2022-2023 showed 2,70,000 students from India embarked on graduate and undergraduate degrees in US universities, accounting for 25 per cent of the international student population in the US and 1.5 per cent of the total student population.
Indian students infuse roughly USD 10 billion annually into universities and related businesses across the country through tuition and other expenses – while also creating around 93,000 jobs, according to the Open Doors data.
Analysts warn the freeze could slow recruitment of highly skilled professionals, affecting academic research and innovation.
Supporters say the directive protects local jobs, while critics caution it could weaken Texas’ competitiveness in higher education and research.
The order comes amid broader debate in the US over skilled immigration and state-level interventions in federal programmes.
H-1B visas allow US companies to hire technically-skilled professionals that are not easily available in America. Initially granted for three years, these can be extended for another three years.
In September 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order ‘The Gold Card’, aimed at setting up a new visa pathway for those committed to supporting the United States; with individuals who can pay USD 1 million to the US Treasury, or USD 2 million if a corporation is sponsoring them, to get access to expedited visa treatment and a path to a Green Card.
