Srichand Parmanand Hinduja was born on 28 November 1935 in Karachi, Sindh province, British India. The second son of Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja and Jamuna Parmanand Hinduja. He was educated at Davar's College of Commerce and R. D. National College, both in Mumbai.

Hinduja began his career in his father's textile and trading businesses in Mumbai, India, and Tehran, Iran. One of his first big coups, in the early 1960s, was the acquisition of the overseas rights to the Indian blockbuster Sangam. Hinduja distributed and promoted the film in Middle Eastern markets and its success earned him millions. Other successful businesses Hinduja initiated in his early career included the sale of food commodities (onions and potatoes) and iron ore from India to Iran.

With the acquisition of Ashok Leyland (from British Leyland) and Gulf Oil (from Chevron) in the 1980s and the establishment of banks in Switzerland and India in the 1990s, Hinduja became one of India's best known Business tycoons alongside such names as Tata, Birla, and Ambani. In 2012, the Group acquired the US firm Houghton International, the world's largest metal fluids manufacturer, for $1.045 billion.

In 1988, their daughter Shanu married Suren Mukhi, the son of Narsi and Janki Mukhi, another London-based Sindhi trading family.

On 19 May 1992, their only son, Dharam Hinduja, died a few days after receiving 70% burns from self-immolation in a hotel room in Mauritius, as part of a suicide pact with his wife, who survived. He had secretly married Ninotchka Sargon, a Roman Catholic Australian, at Chelsea Register Office in January that year.

The October 2013 issue of Forbes Life estimates the Hinduja home in London's Carlton House Terrace down the Mall from Buckingham Palace to be worth $500 million, making it the third most expensive private home in the world.

In 2014, Hinduja was the UK's wealthiest person, with an estimated wealth of GBP 11.9 billion ($20.04 billion) according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

As of March 2016, Forbes ranks SP and GP Hinduja as the 58th richest in the world, with a net worth of $15.2 billion. This makes him the 4th wealthiest Indian-origin Business magnate in the world.