The list of India’s top philanthropists and their contributions, released every year, is not one that makes us very proud. This year also, the list published by EdelGive and Hurun India shows that the country’s record of philanthropy is poor. Most of the names that find a place in the list are known and familiar, and even their order in terms of the size of contributions remains more or less unchanged. Industrialist Azim Premji and family top the list, donating ₹7,904 crore, with Shiv Nadar and Mukesh Ambani families coming in the second and third spots, donating ₹795 crore and ₹458 crore, respectively. There are other top industrialists among the first 10. The difference between the top and second contributor is striking, but still more striking is the general unwillingness of India’s rich and privileged class to do their mite to help the poor and the needy with voluntary acts of giving.
According to last year’s Credit Suisse report, 4,460 Indians have a net worth of over ₹350 crore. India has over 750,000 dollar millionaires as of 2019. Yet donations above ₹10 crore, made by high net worth individuals, comprise 55% of individual philanthropist funding and, according to the 2019 Bains’ report, ‘’about 80% is Azim Premji’s donations”. The total contributions amount to only Rs 45,000 crore annually and this is very low in a country where just 828 people hold about a third of the country’s GDP. In the US, about 2.5% the GDP goes for charity, but in India it is less than 0.5%. Some of the richest people in the world like investor Warren Buffet have announced that they would give away most of their wealth to charity. While some find fault with such announcements on various grounds, it is a fact that such acts of generosity make a difference to the lives of many. Social welfare and wellbeing do not depend on individual acts of kindness, but they are important and have a role.
Philanthropy has grown in India over the years but has not kept pace with the growth of wealth and individuals incomes. The number of billionaires and millionaires has increased steadily but with that the gap between the rich and the poor has also grown. Even during the Covid times, it is not the rich but the poor who have suffered. Though there is much more scope for philanthropy and charity in India, the country has lagged behind western countries in this respect. We think that the western society is individualistic, materialistic and acquisitive and that we have higher values of renunciation and compassion which place the community over the individual. But our actions belie the values we claim to have.