Shiv Nadar tops EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2019, Azim Premji and Mukesh Ambani follow

The list includes the names of the individuals from corporate India, whose own total contribution (personal and corporate) exceed INR 5 crore per year.

The 2019 edition features 100 names – led by Shiv Nadar at the top spot. Azim Premji and Mukesh Ambani rank 2nd and 3rd respectively. The cumulative contribution of all the individuals on the list account for INR 4,391 crore, of which top 10 names accounted for 63%.

As compared to 2018’s list, the 2019 edition witnessed an 90% increase in the total contribution made (INR 4,391 crore in 2019 – up from INR 2,310 crore); as well as the number of people who contributed upwards of INR 10 crore per year towards philanthropic activities (72 in 2019 – up from 38).

Education remained the most popular philanthropic cause, followed by Healthcare and Arts, Culture & Heritage. Forty-seven percent of funds (or INR 2,058 crore) were contributed by individuals in their personal capacity while the remaining 53% was contributed as CSR spends through their business groups. The cut-off for 2019 edition was extended from INR 10 crore in 2018 to INR 5 crore.

Mumbai (31 individuals) is home to most of corporate India’s philanthropists, followed by New Delhi (16 individuals) and Bengaluru (11 individuals). The average age of the individuals in the sixth edition of EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List stood at 64 years (one year younger than 2018 edition).

Rajiv Poddar of Balkrishna Industries (34 years) is the youngest individual to feature in the list while Dharam Pal Gulati of MDH (95 years) is the eldest individual. Six women too feature on the list – with Rohini Nilekani leading as the highest contributor – ranked 6th.

Commenting on the launch of the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2019, Anas Rahman Junaid, MD, and Chief Researcher, Hurun Report India, said: “Three key trends emerge from this year’s edition. First, as the rich Indians get richer; their contribution to the philanthropic causes too witness a jump. Two, there remains a lot of potential for corporate India to grow well by doing good. Case in point, the contribution from the top 10 individuals on the list account for 61%."

"In other words, the remaining 90 individuals account for 39%. There remains a lot of untapped potential which will come at the forefront with initiatives such as these. And three, corporate India is banking and investing on education – much more than any other cause. The megatrend at play here is that the focus of philanthropy in the country is shifting from donating to empowering. It is indeed a long term play, but would surely lead to lasting change in the years to come,” he said.

Vidya Shah, CEO of EdelGive Foundation, said: “When we embarked on this partnership with the Hurun Report India, our overall objective was to understand giving in India based on evidence and data. It is very satisfying to see the results show a significant growth in philanthropy in India, with the number of individual donors at an all-time high. As a sector, we now need to ensure that this ‘giving’ is resulting in a positive change in social indicators and being optimally utilized towards programmatic and organisational growth of our NGOs on-ground.”

Since the inception of the List in 2013, the no. of entrants in EdelGive Hurun Philanthropy List has grown three times during the same period. Interestingly, Hurun India Rich List has also registered a similar growth.