Hurun India has published its philanthropy list for 2024, ranking several Indians and groups in terms of their generosity. While 79-year-old Shiv Nadar, the Chairperson of HCL Enterprise, retained his top rank and was one of the oldest in the list, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, at 38, is the youngest donor. Among the top causes were education, public healthcare and ecosystem building. Among the top 10 were two women.
As per the report, which was published on November 7 by Hurun Research Institute, Shiv Nadar and family donated INR 2,153 crore (approx. USD 255.14 million). He donated primarily to the education sector.
Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, through his Reliance Foundation, donated INR 407 crore (approx. USD 48.23 million) to take the second spot. Ambani’s primary cause was admission for disadvantaged communities, as per the report.
The Bajaj Family was placed third. Through the Bajaj Group Trust, it donated INR 352 crore (approx. USD 41.71 million) to education for engineering.
Kumar Mangalam Birla and family, who donated INR 334 crore (approx. USD 39.58 million) in education through its Aditya Birla Capital Foundation, was placed fourth.
Gautam Adani and family donated INR 330 crore (approx. USD 39.10 million). The Adani Foundation’s primary philanthropic cause was education for remote villages. This completed the top five list.
Placed 10th, Rohini Nilekani donated INR 154 crore (approx. USD 18.25 million) for ecosystem building. Nilekani, however, wasn’t the only one on the list from her family. At number 6 was her husband, Nandan Nilekani, who donated INR 307 crore (approx. USD 36.38 million). Both the Nilekanis donated to the same primary cause, through the Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and Nilekani Philanthropies, respectively.
Dr Krishna Chivukula, the 77-year-old who donated INR 228 crore (approx. USD 27.01 million) to his alma mater IIT Madras alumnus in August, was named the most generous entrant to the list. The chairman of Indo-US Mim Tech Pvt Ltd was placed 7th.
Other newcomers within the top 10 included Susmita and Subroto Bagchi of Mindtree. The couple donated INR 179 crore (approx. USD 21.21 million) towards public healthcare and was placed 9th.
The eighth spot was taken by Anil Agarwal and family, who donated INR 181 crore (approx. USD 21.44 million) for education.
The top 10 individuals/companies in the list contributed INR 4,625 crore (approx. USD 548.09 million) to philanthropic causes. This made up 53 percent of the total donations in the list of over 203 donors, which included 96 new entrants.
The average donation was INR 43 crore (approx. USD 5.09 million).
