LAKSHMI Mittal, the steel magnate at the centre of a Labour funding controversy, was yesterday named as Britain’s richest Asian.
The millionaire, who donated £125,000 to the Labour Party just weeks before Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, wrote a letter to his Romanian counterpart supporting Mr Mittal’s bid to buy Sidex, the country’s state steel firm, comes out top of the Asian
Xpress Rich List 2002, the official list of Britain’s 275 wealthiest Asians.
His fortune is estimated to total £900 million.
In a further reference to government embarrassment, the Hinduja brothers, who became embroiled in a cash for passports row which resulted in the resignation of Peter Mandelson as Northern Ireland Secretary, were placed in the number two spot with £800 million.
And yesterday, Lord Swraj Paul, who is placed at number six on the list with a fortune of £280 million, was revealed to be another major donor, pledging £10,000 to Labour party coffers last year.
The report revealed that Britain’s richest Asians are worth an estimated £9.5 billion, an increase of nearly £1.5 billion in just one year.
The 275 men and women include dozens whose business careers have gone from rags to riches in their lifetime, with the top ten controlling £3.9 billion of the total.
This year’s list also sees the introduction of 50 new millionaires, worth a total of £562.1 million.
The lowest entry point is £5 million, and the highest entrants are Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan, who enter the list at number 25, with a fortune of £70 million. The couple, who are both 35, run a chicken-processing company in Dartmouth.
The increasing influence of women on the Asian business community is also demonstrated, by the second highest new entry, at 60, of Nighat Awan, 47, from Manchester.
Ms Awan’s Shere Khan restaurants and curry sauce manufacturing businesses have netted her a £30 million fortune.
Both Meena Pathak and Perween Warsi remain high on the list of successful women. Meena Pathak received a CBE this year and Perween Warsi opened her first restaurant, Opium, in London’s Wardour Street.
The list also shows that Asian millionaires are definitely getting younger, with a total of 55 of the current list under the age of 40, yet in control of £1.8 billion.
The youngest millionaire is the record-breaking Reuben Singh, 24, who entered the Asian Xpress Rich List last year with his internet company alldayPA.com.
The wealth of Britain’s Asians is concentrated in London, with 90 of the 275 based in the capital. Middlesex has 42 of the top earners and Manchester 18. Scotland ranks fourth as home to 13 Asian millionaires.
The list was compiled by Sunday Times Rich List author Philip Beresford and will be published as a 100-page magazine supplement to the national weekly newspaper Asian Xpress on Friday, 15 March.
