OPINION Lord Swraj Paul, an irrepressible personality with a chequered career

Although he renounced his Indian nationality way back in the 1960s, many of Swraj’s deeds in the United Kingdom probably stem from his Indian genes and mentality.

Swraj Paul, who died on August 21st of multiorgan failure at the ripe old age of 94, straddled India and the United Kingdom as an extraordinary entrepreneur and creator of wealth par excellence. He was a business wizard, no doubt, but had his flaws too.

He was wearing a red tie and a rather smart blue blazer with shiny metal buttons when I first met him around Christmas of 1985 or 1986 in Apeejay House, Kolkata, during his annual winter sojourn.

Underlining the importance of thrift and austerity, he narrated how he had once bought a very expensive Swiss wrist watch from a duty-free shop in Frankfurt airport when he was in his early 20s. His eldest brother, Satya Paul, was furious when Swraj told him how much the watch had cost. He ordered him to sell it off immediately and recover the money. But Swraj couldn’t find a buyer because in a fit of narcissism, he had even got his name engraved on the back of the watch – so there were no takers. He told me that he was never extravagant again.

After that, we met several times in Calcutta and Caparo House in Baker Street, London. I met him a year ago in Ambika House, Portland Place, close to Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the BBC in London. Luckily, I had Kunal Bose, one of India’s foremost financial journalists and an authority on the Pauls, for company that afternoon. Swraj’s residence on the fourth floor was untidy and dusty. We made our way through the deserted drawing room and neglected study to a huge bedroom where Swraj warmly greeted us from his wheelchair.

Tending to the grand old man were three cheerful, middle-aged women helpers – a Filipino, a Nepali, and an Indian called Salma, which was very surprising for a devout Arya Samaji Hindu of his vintage. I learnt from Kunal Da that Salma even took Swraj to the All Souls Church opposite the BBC or to another nearby church on Sundays. All this shows how broadminded he was and how well he had adapted to English life.

We were served coffee and biscuits as Swraj went down memory lane, enlightening and educating us. The coffee cups were cleared, but unforgettably enough, the same cups reappeared a couple of hours later, brimming with tomato soup. Kunal Da and I exchanged glances. When Swraj went to the toilet, we remarked that it is the wives who keep houses in order and how even billionaires’ homes are unkempt when the wives are no more.

The disarray in Swraj’s apartment was clearly the result of his wife, Aruna’s death in 2022 at the age of 86. I was tempted to tell our wealthy host that he should immediately hire a housekeeper from St. James’ Court, the Taj hotel in London, to spruce up his disorderly home and make sure that visitors are served soup in bowls and not coffee mugs. But I kept my tongue in check, fearing that Kunal Da, who is half-English and half-Bengali, would give me a mouthful for crossing the line.

More importantly, that day, Swraj told us the inside story of why his Escorts and DCM takeover bids flopped. Baring his heart for the first time ever, Swraj revealed to us how it was Indira Gandhi’s untimely death that put paid to his plans.

According to him, she was unhappy with both Rajan Nanda and Bharat Ram because they were not sufficiently respectful towards her; hence, she wanted them to be cut down to size. So much so that she sent word to Swraj through the legendary L. K. Jha, her Economic Advisor, to go after them. With Indira’s backing, Swraj ended up buying 7.5 percent of Escorts and 13 percent of DCM, which meant that he held more shares than Nanda and Ram in their respective companies. But he couldn’t gain control of either company because after Indira’s killing, Rajiv Gandhi sided with Vinay Bharat-Ram as they had studied together in Doon School. Under Vinay’s influence, Rajiv ensured that Swraj’s shares in DCM and Escorts were never registered, snuffing out Swraj’s corporate ambitions in India forever.

True, Swraj sat in the House of Lords as a life peer from 1996, was appointed its deputy speaker, regularly featured in the list of richest persons in Britain, and made a name for himself as a philanthropist, but unfortunately, there was something unmistakably unsavory about his public life.

He had to be suspended for four months from the House of Lords for lying that a flat outside London was his main home. He lied in order to pocket cash allowances that politicians living outside London are entitled to. He was caught, disgraced publicly, and had to repay 40,000 Pounds. Swraj was also named and shamed by British Prime Minister David Cameron in the House of Commons for having an account in the Swiss arm of HSBC during a debate on dodgy donors.

Swraj was once again under a cloud as recently as four months ago. On March 11, 2025, The Guardian reported that Swraj had claimed 100,946 Pounds in allowances between the 2019 and 2024 elections. During that period, he did not speak, write, or hold a committee or government post, and voted only once. Swraj is one of the 15 notorious lords who, between themselves, claimed over 500,000 Pounds in allowances for doing nothing or very little beyond turning up, according to the highly respected daily. The new revelation has strengthened the case for weeding out life peers, who are nothing but parasites, from the British parliamentary system.

There is a common saying that you can take an Indian out of India, but you can never take India out of an Indian. Although he renounced his Indian nationality way back in the 1960s, many of Swraj’s deeds in the United Kingdom probably stem from his Indian genes and mentality.

For instance, Swraj, who was the Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton for over 26 years, last year renamed a key building on the campus after his late wife, Aruna. He rechristened the School for Architecture and Built Environment, the Lady Aruna Swraj Paul Building, at the university’s Springfield campus. And, believe it or not, he didn’t stop at that. In his capacity as Chancellor, he awarded an honorary doctorate to his son Akash Paul for services to business administration. Akash even remarked in his acceptance speech that “I am perhaps the only graduate to get a degree from his own father”.

All this does not detract from Swraj’s numerous achievements. But no account of his remarkable life can be complete without recounting episodes that show him in a different light.