Indian Philanthropy

Here are some major features of Indian Philanthropy as enumerated by eminent Indian businesspeople.They are perspectives that were articulated in response to the Gates-Buffett ‘the Giving Pledge’

1.”India has a very old culture of giving, since the time of Buddha. The concept of philanthropy is not new to us.”—-Rahul Bajaj, chairman, Bajaj Group.

2.”Philanthropy in the first world and in the third world are two different things. In the first world people donate to build a baseball stadium. In India, we have to decide for ourselves what we want out of philanthropy. It is not for the Americans to tell us.”

“shareholders have done more charity than Gates and Buffett put together. How? By allowing Cipla to export drugs for $100 million to Africa, which could have fetched $4 billion if they were exported to the US”—-Yusuf Hamied, chairman & managing director, Cipla

3.”Our group’s charity is not about writing fat cheques. It hinges on education, employability and environment.”

“When people like Azim Premji, Narayana Murthy, Vineet Nayar, Kalpana Morparia and Hemendra Kothari do charity, they never ask for publicity.”

“Now that the real growth has started taking place over the past decade, we expect to see Indian businesses doing a lot more charity. It’s already evident.”—-Harsh Goenka, chairman, RPG Enterprises

4.” The concept of philanthropy is really nice, but for that people in our country first need to create wealth themselves.”—-KP Singh, chairman, DLF

5.”I do charity in memory of my father and would like to keep it personal.”

“Almost 75% of India’s wealth comes from the new business families and India has to go through its philanthropy evolution yet.”—-Rana Kapoor, founder and managing director, YES Bank

6.”The problem in any country where there is new wealth creation is that it is some time before the creators give back to the community.There is a natural tendency to start possessing that wealth rather than indulging in philanthropy.”—-Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon.

7.”We very recently decided that 30% of our yearly dividend income (our only source of earning) will be given to philanthropy.”—-Anu Aga, director, Thermax India

8.”In India there is a tremendous tradition of giving, but it’s big among corporates and not so much among individuals. At an individual level it is relatively new and has to increase.”—-T.V. Mohandas Pai,Chairman,Infosys BPO

9. “I don’t think individuals here are doing it like Warren Buffett and Melinda & Bill Gates; so they have become role models.Everyone has to find their own pattern in terms of what percentage they would like to give and what model they would like to follow.” —-Ashok Soota, co-founder and executive chairman, MindTree Ltd

10.”..the fixation that only billionaires can donate needs to be dealt with.You can’t quantify how much money you need before you start becoming charitable.”—-CK Ranganathan, CMD, CavinKare

11.”We do not need to donate money in order to do charity because that model cannot be scaled up. One has to come up with models that are sustainable and we have to relook the concept of charity.”—-Devi Shetty, founder of Narayana Hrudayalaya

12.The GVK Group registered the GVK Foundation in 2001 to promote healthcare, education, arts, music and sports, among other activities.

13.Biocon’s Mazumdar-Shaw says most of her dividends — of Rs 40-50 crore — since Biocon went public have been invested in philanthropy. “This year I want to set up a cancer insurance fund,” she adds.

14.Technology czar Shiv Nadar has committed to put aside well over 10% of his wealth for philanthropic ventures. Nadar’s personal wealth, based only on his shareholding in listed companies, including HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems, is pegged at about Rs 15,000 crore. In the next five years, his philanthropic educational projects will entail an expenditure of Rs 4,000 crore. He sold a 2.5% equity in HCL Technologies last June and pumped the entire Rs 585 crore proceeds into his philanthropic efforts.

15.The 60-year-old Gandhi Mallikarjuna Rao, founder of Bangalore-based infrastructure firm GMR Group, recently pledged Rs 1,540 crore ($340 million) to create an endowment for humanitarian activities. Rao has committed his funds to the group’s charitable wing GMR Varalakshmi Foundation. The grant is equivalent to Rao’s personal share in the entire business.

16.”Comparisons with the US do not serve a purpose because people in the US today have a more wealth than people in India will have in a long time.”—-Industrialist Ajay Piramal

17.”Americans prefer to give to charity because of the high inheritance tax levels in that country. It is not fair to make a value judgement that we (Indian businessmen) do not do enough in terms of philanthropy.”—-Arun Bharat Ram,chairman,SRF Ltd.

18.Family ties are important and patriarchs feel responsible for children and grand-children.

19.Indians have a strong family and inheritance culture where they like to leave everything to their children.This is radically different from the US value system where the next generation is expected to be independent.