The Asian rich list is a powerful rebuke to anti-immigrant rhetoric

Independent

a day ago

When he was young, Surinder Arora took evening jobs to make ends meet. One of those stints was as a waiter at the Renaissance Hotel at Heathrow. Today, he owns the hotel and a host of others at airports and elsewhere.
One of his current projects is the redevelopment of Luton Hoo as a luxury golf and health spa. Another, with the support of airlines and advice from Bechtel, the giant US construction and engineering company, is to build the third runway at Heathrow.
Remarkable as it is, Arora's story typifies the members of this year's Asian Rich List. He is ranked 14th, with a fortune estimated at £1.4bn. While they are all different, what characterises many is a strong work ethic, coupled with relentless drive and determination to succeed. Published by Eastern Eye, the survey provides a fascinating insight into an increasingly powerful and significant cohort of UK society, responsible for generating billions of pounds in investment, donating heavily to charities and creating tens of thousands of jobs.
The combined wealth of the 101 richest British Asians in the country is put at £126.26bn, an increase of £6.22bn from a year ago. The number of billionaires has risen from 16 to 17, while there are several hovering outside this top level.
Arora is representative for another reason. Now 66, he is gradually handing over the reins of the family empire to his son, Sanjay. Says Eastern Eye: 'If there is a trend, it is that in many families, the second or, in some cases, the third generation, are either taking over or have already done so.'
The first generation was schooled in what Gopi Hinduja, who heads the number one Hinduja dynasty with £34.5bn, likes to call UOL – the university of life. Their children and grandchildren have been educated at the best schools and universities in Britain and America.
Having inherited the same ambition and hunger, they are putting that education to good use in expanding the family business. The old North of England adage of 'clogs to clogs in three generations' does not apply to them. Keeping it in the family and protecting the line, while broadening and diversifying the firm, is a central tenet.
Like many others, the Hindujas have also focused on the future, investing in tech solutions to provide sustainable transport and manufacturing and clean energy supply.
One foot forward, another strongly rooted is their mantra. Gopi, for instance, is inordinately proud of his grandson, aged five, who 'begins every morning with his prayers to the world'.
Another theme, again exemplified by Arora and the Hindujas, is hotels. After eight years and at a cost of £1.2bn, the latter have transformed the former Old War Office Building in Whitehall into the 120-room, top-of-the-London market, Raffles Hotel, complete with nine restaurants. The site also encompasses 85 serviced apartments.
The Hinduja Group, which covers a myriad of concerns, among them oil, motor manufacturing, tech and finance, is looking for other similar property and hospitality opportunities.
Coming up fast in the chart is Sharan Pasricha. Currently 42nd and worth £450m, he saw that figure climb £50m in the past 12 months – this, while the rest of the UK was suffering from sluggish or next-to-zero growth.
Pasricha is establishing himself as a force in global hospitality, via his Ennismore commercial vehicle. After completing his MBA at London Business School, he set out to disrupt the traditional international hotel industry. He bought The Hoxton, an underperforming hotel in London, in 2012, and is rolling out the Hoxton brand across the UK and overseas. Meanwhile, he purchased Gleneagles, the prestigious Scottish hotel and golfing complex and has completely refurbished the grand hotel and its sporting and leisure facilities.
On he goes, partnering Accor, one of the world's biggest hospitality companies, and launching the sumptuous private members club, Maison Estelle, in Mayfair, followed soon after by Estelle Manor, the country house hotel in Oxfordshire, chosen by Apple heiress Eve Jobs for her recent wedding.
One irony is that the stately homes of former aristocrats who prospered on the might of the British Empire, which of course owned vast swathes of Asia, are being sold to people who can trace their heritage to those former colonies. That historic connection is maintained by Nirmal Sethia, fourth richest at £6.7bn. The entrepreneur has interests in sugar refining, security printing, gold mining and investment banking.
However, he is best known for his devotion to tea, once an imperial preserve of British planters, and for founding Newby Teas, which he hails as 'the world's finest tea company'.
Ominously for the Labour government, Sethia, who has a house in London, mostly divides his time these days between Dubai and Kolkata. He is thought to be one of the non-doms unimpressed by Rachel Reeves's first Budget and her proposed removal of the preferential tax status for wealthy foreigners.
While Sethia's UK tax payments may be relatively small, there is no doubting his monetary contribution by other means. Through his N Sethia Foundation, he has given close to £1bn to a variety of good causes, many of them in the UK. He was one of the first to offer financial assistance to victims of the Grenfell fire and he is a major backer of the newly revamped Museum of London.
Philanthropy is a common thread. Cyrus and Priya Vandrevala are ninth, with £2.5bn, but it is their success in impact investing and mental health from the Vandrevala Foundation that sets this well-connected duo apart.
They are also passionate about the environment and are patrons of Elephant Family, the charity dedicated to saving Asian elephants from extinction. Their involvement arose through their friendship with the late Mark Shand, brother of Queen Camilla.
One power couple that needs little introduction is Akshata Murty and her husband, Rishi Sunak. The former prime minister and his wife experienced a whopping £200m increase in their paper fortune, put at £920m, most from her stake in her father's flourishing Infosys tech operation.
Still only 45, no former PM has ever been as wealthy as Sunak. Despite this and hardening ties with Goldman Sachs, his first employer after he graduated from Oxford, he remains a backbench MP and insists he is not going anywhere. 'I am happy to confirm that I will now be spending more time in the greatest place on earth, where the scenery is worthy of a movie set and everyone is a character,' he said of his North Yorkshire constituency, while leading the Opposition response to that Labour Budget.
Against the present backdrop of protests against immigration, the Asian Rich List illustrates that the UK has so much to be thankful for. It is hard to imagine where the economy, wider society, would be without the loyalty, tenacity and public spirit of those on the list and the ones ascending fast. We urgently need more like them, not less.