Hinduja Group's Iranian Roots Receiving $50 Billion Investment

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The founder of India's family-controlled Hinduja Group (Bombay, New Delhi, London) opened the company's first foreign office in Iran in 1919 after starting his trading life in Bombay in 1914. Nearly 100 years later, never having lost the Iranian connection through various upheavals, the company is planning to invest $50 billion in capital in Iranian oil and gas projects through 2013.

The overseas division of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, ONGC Videsh, will partner Hinduja in a study of Iran's South Pars Phase 12 gas field and the Azadegan oil resource. The partners have concluded due diligence on the South Pars gas field and are now working on preparations for due diligence on the Azadegan field. These projects will cost between $10 billion to $20 billion.

In parallel with these developments, Hinduja and ONGC are planning to build a 300,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery and a 7.7 million-ton-per-annum LNG terminal in southern India. Hinduja has recently announced ambitious plans to expand in the Indian power generation sector. Some new power units could be supported by the gas feed from Iranian LNG. For related information, see April 30, 2008, article - Hinduja Group Investing $10 Billion in India's Power Sector.

At the end of March plans announced to invest $400 million in the UAE property development sector further strengthened the group's focus on Middle Eastern projects. Hinduja's flagship company Ashok Leyland is planning to set up a commercial vehicle manufacturing unit in Dubai. Ashok Leyland is India's second largest truck maker by sales and the company also owns Hinduja Foundries, one of the country's largest automotive jobbing foundries that produces castings for third party manufacturers.

A number of group companies covering a range of industrial and commercial interests are represented on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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