Nikhil Kamath, 36, is the youngest philanthropist in the Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022
Mumbai: Hurun India and EdelGive released the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022. This is the 9th annual ranking of the most generous individuals in India. This is our attempt to highlight India’s remarkable givers and to capture the growing importance of individual givers in India’s philanthropic landscape towards nation-building. Donations were measured by the value of their cash or cash equivalents from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. This is the ninth year of the list and it follows on from the Hurun India Rich List, a ranking of 1,103 richest individuals in India, released in September 2022 for the eleventh year.
EdelGive Foundation has partnered with Hurun India towards creating this report to understand philanthropic giving in the country from a data and evidence point of view. The report is not only significant in understanding data of giving but also throws light on the sectors and geographies that are at the receiving end of this giving. Through this report, we aim to bring to notice the strength of the social sector and access areas which require further growth.
This year’s EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022 features individuals who have donated INR 5 crore or more during the period under review.
”We are pleased to associate with Hurun India for the fourth consecutive year for the launch of EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List. Our focus remains the same on bringing forth one of the most authoritative lists of philanthropists in India. Like every year, we aim to document and analyze the evolving patterns of philanthropic giving in the country. The EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022 presents us with an opportunity to deep dive into the motivations and thoughts that drive these eminent philanthropists to contribute towards a plethora of causes.” – Naghma Mulla, CEO, EdelGive Foundation.
Commenting on the launch, Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India, said, “EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List aims at chronicling the Indian philanthropy landscape and so far the transformation is encouraging. For instance, over the last 5 years, number of donors who have given more than INR 100 crore have grown from 2 to 15, and over 50 crores have grown from 5 to 20. Considering the wealth creation potential of India and assuming that the billionaires keep up with philanthropy, I expect these numbers to at least double over the next 5 years.”
“The cohort of senior and young tech entrepreneurs holds the potential to play a crucial role in meeting the country’s social sector fund requirement. For instance, Nikhil and Nithin Kamath and Binny Bansal increased their donations by more than 100% compared to last year. Many such acts from founders of start-ups could kick the Indian philanthropy curve into a higher orbit.”
“I am very stoked to see the rise in personal philanthropy in India. Cumulative personal donations grew by 50% to INR 3097 crore, and this constitutes 55% of donation in the list. EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List narrates the modern India’s giving culture through the eyes of the philanthropists.”
“Sustainability as a cause has received accelerated attention last year. For instance, donation towards Environment and Sustainability increased by 46%, to INR 193 crore, compared to last year. I believe that CSR will play a key role in India meeting sustainable development goals (SDG) by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2070.”
“In the midst of extreme challenges, charitable giving has been a silver lining. Giving back to society is deeply embedded in our culture and some of the most generous good Samaritans are Indians. With total donations estimated at US$102.4bn, Mumbai-based Jamsetji Tata (1839-1904), was the world’s biggest philanthropist of the last century in the 2021 EdelGive Hurun Philanthropists of the Century, a ranking of the world’s most generous individuals from the past century.”
“As wealth grows, family philanthropy is becoming more visible and slowly shifting away from random acts of giving food, clothes and scholarships to new and marginalised areas. This further accentuates the need to celebrate such efforts, so that it percolates down to every level of the community – the core objective of EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List,” concluded Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.
Top 10 Philanthropists
Table 1: The Top 10 in the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022 is shown below
| Rank | Name | Donation (INR Cr) | Change % | Primary Cause | Company | 3yr Donation (INR Cr) |
| 1(+1) | Shiv Nadar & family | 1,161 | -8% | Education | HCL Technologies | 3,219 |
| 2(-1) | Azim Premji & family | 484 | -95% | Education | Wipro | 18,101 |
| 3(-) | Mukesh Ambani & family | 411 | -29% | Education | Reliance Industries | 1,446 |
| 4(-) | Kumar Mangalam Birla & family | 242 | -36% | Healthcare | Aditya Birla | 875 |
| 5* | Susmita and Subroto Bagchi | 213 | New | Healthcare | Mindtree | NA |
| 5* | Radha and NS Parthasarathy | 213 | New | Healthcare | Mindtree | NA |
| 7(+1) | Gautam Adani & family | 190 | 46% | Disaster Relief | Adani | 408 |
| 8(+1) | Anil Agarwal & family | 165 | 27% | Disaster Relief | Vedanta | 510 |
| 9(-4) | Nandan Nilekani | 159 | -13% | Societal Thinking | Infosys | 501 |
| 10(+1) | AM Naik | 142 | 27% | Healthcare | Larsen & Toubro | 330 |
Source: Hurun Research Institute; EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022
*New to Top 10
Table 2: Top 10 New entrants in EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022
| Rank | Name | Donation (INR Cr) | Age | Primary Cause | Company |
| 1 | Susmita and Subroto Bagchi | 213 | 65 | Healthcare | Mindtree |
| 1 | Radha and NS Parthasarathy | 213 | 61 | Healthcare | Mindtree |
| 3 | Ajit Isaac | 115 | 55 | Healthcare | Quess Corp |
| 4 | Rakesh Gangwal | 100 | 69 | Education | InterGlobe Aviation |
| 5 | Girdhari Lal Bawri, Rajendra Agarwal and Banwari Lal Bawri | 41 | – | Education | Macleods Pharmaceuticals |
| 6 | Naveen Jindal & family | 38 | 52 | Education | Jindal Steel & Power |
| 7 | Ashok Soota | 26 | 79 | Disaster Relief | Happiest Minds Technologies |
| 8 | Govind Dholakia | 15 | 75 | Disaster Relief | Shree Ramkrishna Exports |
| 9 | Madhukar Parekh, Ajay Parekh & Kalpana Parekh | 10 | – | Disaster Relief | Pidilite Industries |
| 10 | Anil Rai Gupta & family | 9 | 53 | Disaster Relief | Havells India |
Source: Hurun Research Institute; EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022
Table 3: Increased allocation (%) in EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022
| Rank | Name | % Change | Donation (INR Cr) | Primary Cause | Company |
| 1 | Nithin Kamath & Nikhil Kamath | 308% | 100 | Disaster Relief | Zerodha |
| 2 | Prithavi Raj Jindal & family | 231% | 16 | Healthcare | JSW Steel |
| 3 | Binny Bansal | 174% | 37 | Education | Investments |
| 4 | SP Oswal & family | 160% | 15 | Healthcare | Vardhman Textiles |
| 5 | Ratan Jindal & family | 152% | 16 | Education | Jindal Stainless (Hisar) |
| 6 | Bajranglal Taparia & Mahaveer Prasad Taparia | 134% | 14 | Education | Supreme Industries |
| 7 | Sajjan Jindal & family | 132% | 37 | Healthcare | JSW Steel |
| 7 | Vinod Kumar Agarwal | 127% | 25 | Healthcare | Agarwal Coal |
| 9 | Sanjiv Goenka & family | 118% | 72 | Education | CESC |
| 10 | Cyrus S Poonawalla & Adar Poonawalla | 94% | 112 | Education | Serum Institute of India |
Source: Hurun Research Institute; EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022
Women in the list
6 women find their place in EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022. With a donation of INR 120 crore, Rohini Nilekani of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies is India’s most generous woman, followed Leena Gandhi Tewari of USV who donated INR 21 crore. Anu Aga and family of Thermax donated INR 20 crore in FY22 to come in the third spot.
Table 4: India’s most generous women – 2022
| Rank | Name | Donation (INR Cr) | Age | Primary Cause | Company |
| 1 | Rohini Nilekani | 120 | 63 | Environmental Sustainability | Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies |
| 2 | Leena Gandhi Tewari | 21 | 65 | Healthcare | USV |
| 3 | Anu Aga & family | 20 | 80 | Education | Thermax |
| 4 | Manju D Gupta & family | 16 | 79 | Rural Development | Lupin |
| 5 | Renu Munjal & family | 10 | 67 | Disaster Relief | Hero MotoCorp |
| 6 | Kiran Mazumdar Shaw | 7 | 69 | Education | Biocon |
Source: Hurun Research Institute; EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022
Methodology
To put together a comprehensive list of the largest philanthropists of India is an almost impossible task. However, we at Hurun believe that, the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List is the most serious and authoritative effort to date, identifying the individuals and highlighting the causes they donate to. To make this list, the Hurun Report surveyed India’s most successful entrepreneurs, including those from the Hurun India Rich List 2022, meticulously cross-referencing the results with media reports and charitable foundations. In the course of the research, Hurun Report attended non-profit related seminars, as well as meeting with scholars, experts, philanthropists, and senior members of charitable foundations.
Hurun Report includes cash and cash equivalents pledged with legally binding commitments for the twelve months from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, and the latest available CSR data filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Hurun Report included donations made by companies in which an individual had a significant share by applying the percentage the individual has of the company on the donations. So, for example, Biocon for the period made donations of INR 8 crore, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw holds 60.68% of the shares of the company, so Hurun Report recorded Shaw’s donations as INR 4.92 crore. In 2015, Azim Premji had transferred a significant part of his shareholding amounting to 39% of the shares of Wipro to trust and foundation, which had been taken into account that year. Since this is a one-time philanthropic donation, it has not been included this year.
The list only includes those individuals born and bred in India regardless of the passport they currently hold. Values are rounded, and past figures are subject to exchange rate fluctuations.
* The report belongs to Hurun Report India. Any third-party brands, names, or trademarks contained in the report belong to the relevant third parties.
