The news isn’t good, Srichand Hinduja — known to the world and its uncle as “SP” — announces cheerfully. The global recession, in his opinion, could last “between three and five years”, and possibly 10 if world governments do not do what he wants them to do — which is stop pouring billions into the pockets of financial institutions and corporate houses “responsible for causing the unprecedented economic crisis in the first place”.

The analogy is right there — amid a crowd of birds — as SP takes a walk. The best time to catch the Hindujas in London is just after dawn when they have already been to their nearest Hindu temple and are taking their brisk early morning walk through St James’s Park and then across the Mall, past Buckingham Palace, in Green Park. The wind is bracing for it is just about to snow but even so, SP and his younger brother, Gopi — they are based in London while, the third in line, Prakash, lives in Geneva and the youngest, Ashok, in Mumbai — are wearing kurta pyjamas under a warm coat with a hood. They are clutching bread crumbs for the birds and peanuts for the squirrels.

The arrival of the brothers is greeted by wave after wave of ducks, pigeons, crows, geese and other birds dive bombing them in RAF fashion. It could be a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds but soon it becomes clear the birds are welcoming friends.

“It’s not us, it’s the food,” grins SP. “I have learnt from nature. The birds are not greedy, they take only what they eat.”

As a squirrel accepts a peanut from Gopi before scurrying away, SP observes: “They will take one and save two.”

SP is a great one for home spun philosophy, for he is implying that unlike the squirrels, the behaviour of financiers and corporate houses has been characterised by greed. He is preparing a paper to this effect to hand to leaders of the G20 when they meet in London on April 2. He hopes that US President Barack Obama, who will be present, will listen.

SP, 73, heads what is arguably the most influential joint Indian business family that hasn’t fallen apart. Until steel baron Lakshmi Mittal arrived, they were reckoned to be the richest Indian family in the UK, but now that steel prices have plummeted, it would be hard to calculate who is on top. In any case, the Hinduja empire, built up since the days of SP’s father, Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, is far more diversified, being in everything from oil to buses and property.

How to pass on not only the empire but also Hinduja values to the new generation is one of SP’s preoccupations.

Speaking of values, why is it the Hindujas have been depicted in the media as “dark and mysterious”? What about that Bofors business and then the controversy over British passports — one-time scandals that named them?

“That’s all over now,” comments SP dismissively.

He has contributed generously to the Duke of Edinburgh’s charities and is being rewarded with luncheon later this month at Buckingham Palace for the Hinduja family (when, as is his custom, he will take his own home-cooked vegetarian food).

SP has other eccentricities. He has homes in many cities, including London, Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Chennai, Paris, Cannes and New York, for he stays in hotels only if there is no alternative. “Sometimes my wife (Madhu) protests, ‘Do you really have to take your own sheets and pillows and cutlery?’” he laughs. “In hotels you have prostitutes going in and out.”

Another rule is that only very close relatives are allowed to stay in Hinduja residences for he believes that people who inhabit a building leave behind their own distinctive “vibes”. Friends and other relatives are looked after well but only at hotels.

“They know that is one of our rules,” he points out.

There will soon be what can only be called a palace to accommodate the growing Hinduja family, for SP is buying a 125-year lease on a magnificent property fronting the Mall. The inside is being done up at vast cost, partly to exorcise the “vibes” of previous generations. The Crown Estate Commissioners have strict rules on changes that can be made to a Grade I listed building but SP is being allowed to incorporate a temple into his new home. “There has to be a temple,” he says.

At a personal level, there can be few tycoons as charming and down to earth as SP. However, those Indians who have done business with the Hindujas say they can be difficult. “It is better to have them as friends,” remarks one associate.

It is not as though the Hindujas have not been hit by the downturn. Sales of Ashok Leyland buses, for instance, have fallen sharply. “There is not much you can do if buyers who cannot pay tell you, ‘Take back your buses.’ There is a saying in Urdu, ‘The green leaves of a tree are burnt because the tree is growing at a place below which there is a fire.’”

He claims the Hinduja bank, Amas, is not in bad shape because he curbed lending in 2006 when other banks were doing the opposite. “People would say to me, ‘What’s wrong with you, Hinduja?’ They started calling me, ‘Mr Pessimist.’”

Since most governments have decided that investing huge sums in stabilising the banking system is the only way out of the economic crisis, SP’s contrary view is certainly worth careful analysis.

“The boom that preceded the present downturn was not an overnight occurrence but gathered pace over a decade when all sorts of evil practices were tolerated,” he begins. “It was a sustained ‘boom’ during which the value of money was practically lost. What could previously be bought for $1000 now cost $10,000; if you paid $100,000 before, you now paid $1m.”

He spares no one: “Now what has happened is that the regulatory bodies have failed, the auditors have failed, rating companies have failed, in fact, the whole system has failed. The chairman and the board of directors have failed, too; so have the management and compliance and risk officers. Add to that the failure of many professionals. All are guilty to a lesser or greater extent of violating or manipulating financial systems. This has meant that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened and the common man has suffered.”

Neither does he back American measures bailing out the financial and corporate sectors. “Bailing them out by pouring billions of taxpayers’ money into the system is not the solution. What is there to ensure that some of the money does not disappear in bonuses again? Again the common man is suffering and will suffer more as unemployment rises. As for the people who run the systems, it is over-optimistic to assume that those infected and corrupted will be able to mend their ways.”

SP, who was close to Raj Kapoor and whose holding company in the UK is named Sangam, likes to use cinematic language. “What we are witnessing is the trailer to the real movie. The recession could last anything between three and five years, possibly even longer. The worst pain is yet to come. What governments are offering by bailing out financial institutions and corporate houses is temporary oxygen.”

His solution?

“A sensible solution is to invest in emerging and developing markets and use money in the social infrastructure of their citizens. Instead of highways, why not spend money on high streets, and also on modest 1MW energy projects, in water resources, health and education? Pouring billions into the system, which is the recipe now being followed, is the road to disaster. It is money down the drain.”

SP ponders over wastage, though his mind is focused for the moment on the wedding in Mumbai this week of Ambika, his brother Ashok’s film producer daughter, with Raman, a Punjabi boy she has known for four years. A Hinduja wedding has to be grand but it cannot be seen to be excessively lavish in the current climate.

SP, who decided the guest list could not be trimmed, says: “We are instead cutting back the number of functions from five to two.” Like the squirrels — save when you can.