Hinduja Foundation is an important milestone in a journey in humanitarianism which began with the philanthropic work of Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja (1901 - 1971), founder of the Hinduja Group.
1944 marked the beginning of structured charity for Parmanand and his family when he established a charitable educational trust, the Shrimati Pahunchbai Deepchand Hinduja Trust, in memory of his mother. Today, this trust runs the K.P.B. Hinduja College of Commerce in Mumbai.
1947 witnessed the terrible tragedy of partition of the Indian subcontinent. Many of the uprooted families from West Pakistan came to Mumbai. Parmanand took lead in putting together his and his friends’ resources to set up relief centres, settlements, and medical care units. In 1951, he pooled resources and set up an outdoor clinic in Mumbai which developed into the P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, an ultramodern tertiary care centre of international repute.
With Parmanand’s inspiration, the Hinduja Foundation was founded in 1968. It was a public charitable trust which has a broad spectrum of charitable objectives. As more concrete steps were underway to implement his progressive ideas, in 1971, Parmanand Hinduja passed away. But he left behind a committed band of institutions and enterprises deeply conscious of their social responsibility, and a family brought up to believe that philanthropy is an honourable reward of business.
Drawing inspiration from the Founder, the Hinduja Foundation believes that philanthropy, a sacred social responsibility of all enterprise, is worthier when it encourages self - help and sets an example for the younger generations. Srichand P. Hinduja, Chairman of the Hinduja Group, leads the Foundation. “Our aim,” he says, “is to build bridges between India and the world, between the past and the present, between generations that are and generations to come.”