NEW DELHI: A Swiss court has sentenced four members of the wealthy Hinduja family to up to four years and six months in jail on Friday for exploiting their domestic workers.
The accused were found guilty of trafficking mostly-illiterate domestic workers from India, confiscating their passports, and forcing them to work 16-hour days in their Geneva villa without overtime pay.
The Hinduja family, known for their vast business empire spanning various sectors, tops the Sunday Times list of the UK’s 350 richest people with an estimated fortune of £37 billion. However, Gopi Hinduja himself was not named in the case.
The Hinduja Group, controlled by the family, has diverse business interests ranging from trucks and lubricants to banking and cable television.
The group was founded by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, who started his merchant banking and trade businesses in British India before moving to Bombay in 1914 and expanding internationally to Iran in 1919.
The brothers later shifted their base to London in 1979, where it remains today, with the group claiming to employ 200,000 people worldwide.
Srichand P Hinduja, the eldest son, took over the reins in 1935 and is credited with founding IndusInd Bank. Following his death in May 2023, Gopichand Hinduja assumed the role of Chairman and is recognized for the Group’s ventures into the power and infrastructure sectors.
The family’s wealth and influence have been significant, with Forbes ranking them as the seventh richest in India and the 146th richest globally in recent years.
The accused were found guilty of trafficking mostly-illiterate domestic workers from India, confiscating their passports, and forcing them to work 16-hour days in their Geneva villa without overtime pay.
The Hinduja family, known for their vast business empire spanning various sectors, tops the Sunday Times list of the UK’s 350 richest people with an estimated fortune of £37 billion. However, Gopi Hinduja himself was not named in the case.
The Hinduja Group, controlled by the family, has diverse business interests ranging from trucks and lubricants to banking and cable television.
The group was founded by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, who started his merchant banking and trade businesses in British India before moving to Bombay in 1914 and expanding internationally to Iran in 1919.
The brothers later shifted their base to London in 1979, where it remains today, with the group claiming to employ 200,000 people worldwide.
Srichand P Hinduja, the eldest son, took over the reins in 1935 and is credited with founding IndusInd Bank. Following his death in May 2023, Gopichand Hinduja assumed the role of Chairman and is recognized for the Group’s ventures into the power and infrastructure sectors.
The family’s wealth and influence have been significant, with Forbes ranking them as the seventh richest in India and the 146th richest globally in recent years.
