Mukesh Ambani crowned as ‘Most Generous Indian Philanthropist’ with the donation of Rs 437 Crores

• 39 Indians have donated Rs 10 Crores or more from 1^st Oct 2017 to 30^th Sep 2018
• Ajay Piramal of Piramal Group Shoots into second place with Rs 200 Crores donation
• Manju D Gupta & family is the only woman philanthropist on the list
• CSR accounts 70% of total Philanthropic donations to Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018
• Education is preferred cause
• All the individuals on the list are also featured in Hurun India Rich List 2018
• Hurun Report launches the fifth edition of Hurun India Philanthropy List
• With Rs 437 Crores donation towards education, rural development and healthcare, Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Chairman tops the Hurun India Philanthropy list
• Ajay Piramal of Piramal Group bags the second rank with a donation of Rs 200 Crores towards causes such as education and healthcare
• Followed by Azim Premji of Wipro with a donation of Rs 113 Crores towards causes such as Environment Sustainability and Healthcare
• Only woman entrepreneur on the list is Manju D Gupta & family, Chairman of Lupin with a donation Rs 10 Crores to socio-economic development, poverty and healthcare
• Contributing nearly 30% of the donations, Education remains the most popular philanthropic cause , followed by Healthcare with 12%
• Average age is 63 years, three years older than the average age of the Hurun India Rich List 2018
• With a donation of Rs 11 Crores, Sameer Gehlaut (44) of Indiabulls Group is the youngest philanthropist on the list; eldest being Benu Gopal Bangur (84) of Shree Cement who contributed Rs 18 Crores
• Indian philanthropy is at Rs 1,560 Crores this year, with an average donation per philanthropist being Rs 40 Crores.
• 22 Self-made and 17 Inherited entrepreneurs in the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018
• With 12 individuals, Mumbai is home to most of the Hurun philanthropists this year, followed by Bengaluru (6) and Ahmedabad (4)

MUMBAI: The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018, a ranking of the most generous individuals from 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. Donations were measured by the value of their cash or cash equivalent from 1 October 2017 to 31 September 2018. This is the fifth year of the list and it follows on from the Hurun India Rich List, a ranking of 831 richest individuals in India, released in September 2018 for the sixth year.

With the same cut-off as last year of INR 10 Crore, the Hurun India Philanthropy List has 39 individuals, up by 12 from last year.

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Anas Rahman Junaid, Managing Director and Chief Researcher, Hurun Report India, said “The philanthropic landscape of India is changing and evolving because of the active participation and contribution of the top Indian entrepreneurs. Some of the most amazing global wealth creation stories of this century will be from India. Consequently, in the next 5-10 years I expect to see exponential increase in active philanthropy emanating from India.”

Table 1: Top 10 Philanthropist of 2018

           Source: Hurun Research Institute & Hurun India Rich List 2018

Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries tops the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018 with the donation of Rs 437 Crores. Coincidentally, he is also richest person on our Hurun India Rich List 2018. CSR spending of Mukesh Ambani mainly focused on education. He channelizes his charitable activities through Reliance foundation. The main focus of the foundation is to promote the inclusive growth in India. Besides healthcare, his philanthropic interests include social & rural development and education. Recently, Reliance Foundation (RF) donated of Rs 21 Crores to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, besides relief materials worth around Rs 50 Crores.

With Rs 200 Crore donation through Piramal Foundation, Anand Piramal, & family have made it to the second rank on the list of Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018. Piramal foundation has partnered with the government and non-government organisations to scale up its projects. The Foundation has partnered with NITI Aayog to ‘Transform Aspirational Districts’ in India across Education and Primary Healthcare & Nutrition.  It also works on democratizing healthcare in the country by making healthcare Accessible, Affordable and Available to all segments of the population.

Wipro chairman, Azim Premji has been ranked 3^rd in Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018 for his contribution of Rs 113 Crores for education through the Azim Premji Foundation. The founder of India’s third largest software services company marks another step in 2018, in his efforts towards giving away most of his wealth to charity by merging his investment arm PremjiInvest with Azim Premji Trust. He started the foundation with a $2.2 billion donation to the foundation.

Adi Godrej & family, who ranked 4^th in Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018, has had a long tradition of generous philanthropy. The group was created in the pre-Independence era and was influenced by the Gandhian philosophy of inclusive growth. Nearly 23% of the promoter holding in the Godrej Group is held in the Godrej trust that invests in the environment, health and education.

With the donation of Rs 50 Crores to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund to help the victims of Kerala flood havoc, Lulu Group Chairman Yusuff Ali MA seizes the 5^th rank in Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018. The philanthropist in him has always come to the forefront in organizing huge and timely relief measures from the Gulf during many natural calamities in India such as Lathur Earthquake, Gujarat Earthquake, Tsunami Tragedy, Uttarakhand Floods & Landslides and Jammu & Kashmir Floods. Also in U.A.E., he was at the forefront by providing free air tickets including other facilities to hundreds of hapless Indians who could not even afford a ticket back to their motherland.

Shiv Nadar, billionaire technology czar and founder of the HCL Group ranks 6^th in Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018 for his generous contribution of INR 56 Crores to various charitable activities through the Shiv Nadar Foundation out of which INR 37 Crores was spent on Project Samuday. Project Samuday a flagship program of HCL Foundation, is an outcome of HCL’s commitment to uplift rural India. As of now, Nadar has contributed around US$ 800 million through his Foundation, changing more than 25,000 underprivileged students.

The 7^th position in Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018 is grabbed by the founder and chairman of Hari Krishna Exports, Savji Dholakia for the donation of INR 40 Crores. Hari Krishna Sarovar has been a brainchild of Mr. Dholakia. The lake which has shaped up on the river named “Gagadia” covers 150 acres of land and was completed in record time of just 120 days. He has used his own resources to construct the lake.

Former CEO of Tata Sons, Cyrus P Mistry and Shapoor P Mistry shares the 8^th rank in the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018 with the donation of INR 36 Crores each. The Shapoorji Pallonji Foundation supports environmental, healthcare and educational causes. Their contribution is mainly attributable to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending of Tata group companies.

While the project Udaan under Adani Foundation, continues to redefine the meaning of an educational trip for Indian kids, Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group secures the 10^th position in the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2018. “Project Udaan”, a learning-based initiative has benefitted around 1.5 lakh students covering 1,600 schools and colleges across India. The Foundation has expanded its operations over the past decade in 13 States, 20 locations, 1,470 villages & towns across the country. 

Most preferred Philanthropic Cause – 2018

Education remains the most favored philanthropic cause with 28%, followed by Healthcare (12%) and Rural Development (10%). Mukesh Ambani is the highest Individual contributor for education.

Table 2: Favored Philanthropic Causes of 2018

          Source: Hurun Research Institute

Also, Kerala which was hit by massive floods in August 2018, is one of the most favored philanthropic cause among HNIs of India. Kerala received helping hands from Indian entrepreneurs across various sectors. Reliance Foundation donated of Rs 21 Crores to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, besides relief materials worth around INR 50 Crores. Yusuff Ali MA of Lulu also donated Rs 50 Crores to the flood relief in Philanthropy List by City

With 12 individuals, Mumbai is the capital for India’s Philanthropist, followed by Ahmedabad and Bengaluru

Table 3: Philanthropic List by City Wise

        Source: Hurun Research Institute

Comparison of China and India Philanthropy List

The key philanthropists in China are He Xiangjian and Xu Jiayin from Evergrande who contributed $1,086m and $498m respectively towards social welfare and poverty alleviation. Lu Zhiqiang donated $146m for education and social welfare has secured the third position in the China Rich List. Despite the difference in the number of philanthropists, the primary cause of philanthropy of China and India remains the same.

Table 4: Hurun India and China comparison

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Table 5: Hurun India Philanthropy list 2018:

   Source: Hurun Research Institute

Methodology

To put together a comprehensive list of the largest philanthropists of India is an almost impossible task. However, we believe at Hurun Report that, the 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 800 of India’s most successful entrepreneurs, including those from the Hurun India Rich List 2018, 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-month period from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018.

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 8Crores, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw holds 60.68% of the shares of the company, so Hurun Report recorded Shaw’s donations as INR 4.92 Crores. 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 has been taken into account that year. Since this is a one-time philanthropic donation, it has not been included this year.

The list includes only individual born and bred in India regardless of the passport they currently hold. Values are rounded, and past figures are subject to exchange rate fluctuations.

Hurun Report India commenced operations in 2012 and has been bringing to light stories of successful and emerging Indian entrepreneurs ever since, felicitating them at a bouquet of Hurun events hosted pan-India.

Hurun Report India serves as India’s definitive voice celebrating wealth creation, innovation and growth. Last year, Hurun further expanded its repertoire by releasing the Hurun Global Rich List 2017, a ranking of the 2,694 US dollar billionaires, so-called ‘Nine-Zero Club’, currently in the world and the seventh India Rich List which ranks the 831 richest individuals in India, allowing for comparisons between some of the most dynamic economies in the world. The purpose of this list is to try and tell the story of modern India through the eyes of an entrepreneur.