Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The long tradition of billionaires donating huge sums for philanthropic causes in the West is now catching up amongst the Indian rich and famous as well. In all, 119 Indian billionaires donated Rs. 8,445 crores in 2021-22, which was 59 percent more than they gave away in the year before.
The total donations in India, however, were lower than Rs 11,984 crore in FY20 and Rs 14,755 crore in FY21.
Of all the donors, HCL Technologies founder-chairman Shiv Nadar stood out. He alone donated Rs. 2,042 crores in FY23, or an average of Rs. 5.6 crore per day. He has emerged as India’s most generous businessman, who donated 76 percent more than what he did in FY22 when he gave away over Rs. 3 crore per day, according to the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2023.
Wipro chief Azim Premji followed Nadar, having donated Rs 1,774 crore during FY23, which was 267 percent more than FY22.
Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries stood, as he donated Rs. 376 crores in philanthropy, largely channeled through the Reliance Foundation, where the focus is predominantly on education and health care.
Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha became the youngest billionaire philanthropist on the elite list. The Kamath brothers, who donated Rs 110 crore in FY23, came 12th on this list.
Former Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani’s wife Rohini, who heads the Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, was the numero uno among women, donating Rs 170 crore, and came 10th on the list. She was followed by Anu Aga (40th rank) and Leena Gandhi (41st) with donations worth Rs 23 crore each. In all, seven women philanthropists were featured in the list.
Altogether 14 Indians, up from six last year, donated over Rs 100 crore. The list showed that 24 Indians, vis-à-vis 12 last year, donated over Rs 50 crore, and 47 donated more than Rs 20 crore.
For most of these billionaires, education was the favored cause for donation, with 62 of them cumulatively donating Rs 1,547 crore in this activity, followed by the arts, culture, and heritage (Rs. 1,345 crores) and healthcare (Rs. 633 crores).
Mumbai, the financial capital of India, also became the philanthropy capital where 39 persons donated big sums for the causes close to their hearts. New Delhi (19) and Bengaluru (13) were the other cities of big donors.
The top ten philanthropists included business magnets Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, the Bajaj family, Anil Agarwal, Nandan Nilekani, and Cyrus and Adar Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India.
Around Rs. 75 crore of the contribution by Kumar Mangalam and his Birla family came from their funds. For the Bajaj family, this marks their first appearance on the list. Anil Agarwal and his family’s donations, meanwhile, increased 46 percent over FY22.
“This is a record year for big philanthropy,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, Managing Director and Chief Researcher, at Hurun India. “In the past five years, the number of donors contributing over Rs 100 crore has surged from two to 14, and those donating over Rs 50 crore has risen from five to 24. Given India’s potential for wealth creation and assuming a continued commitment to philanthropy by billionaires, I anticipate these figures to potentially double over the next five years.”
The cumulative corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending of BSE 200 companies has grown from Rs 5,561 crore in FY15 to Rs 12,271 crore in FY23.