oppn parties With A Few Honourable Exceptions, India's Wealthy Are Not Generous Enough

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With A Few Honourable Exceptions, India's Wealthy Are Not Generous Enough

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-10-26 06:24:49

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The latest (2022) edition of the EdelGive Harun India Philanthropy List is out. Shiv Nadar of HCL Tech is once again India's top philanthropist, having donated Rs 1161cr last year. He was pipped to the post last year by Wipro's Azim Premji who stood second this year with donations of Rs 484cr. At number three and four were Mukesh Ambani (Rs 411cr) and Kumar Mangalam Birla (Rs 242cr). India's richest man, Gautam Adani, was at number seven with just Rs 190cr in donations. Fifteen people made an annual donation of over Rs 100cr, while 20 people donated over Rs 50cr and 43 donated over Rs 20cr. Given the scale of wealth generation in India, with a sizeable number of new billionaires popping up every year, it seems most of those who have prospered have not yet understood the power of giving.

Although India has laws which require profit-making companies (after a threshold) to give back to society, those are mandatory. The real power of giving comes when the rich donate out of their own wealth. In this, Shiv Nadar and Azim Premji have been consistent and have been top donors for many years. Since Gautam Adani has seen his wealth grow by leaps and bounds in the last two years, it was expected that he will show matching generosity and donate some of his massive wealth to top the list. But that has not happened. Maybe with time Adani (and Ambani too) will compete in donating too as they do in most other businesses.

The private charitable initiatives of wealthy individuals go a long way in supplementing the efforts of the government in bettering the lives of the marginalized and the downtrodden and make for a better society. This is mainly because these wealthy individuals, through their charitable foundations, can take up projects in a more focused way, identify areas where the government is either not present or not doing enough and ensure that the benefits reach the people without leakages. Hence, it is necessary that wealthy individuals in India donate more, and in larger numbers, to give back to society.

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