HCL's Nadar tops FY19 Hurun philanthropy list with Rs 826-cr contribution

Azim Premji was second on the list, while Mukesh Ambani came third

HCL Technologies Chairman Shiv Nadar topped the list of India's most generous philanthropists. He contributed Rs 826 crore during the financial year 2018-19 (FY19).

Wipro founder Azim Premji was second with Rs 453 crore. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani was third with Rs 402 crore, according to the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2019 released on Monday.

"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 per cent. In other words, the remaining 90 individuals account for 39 per cent. 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", Anas Rahman Junaid, Managing Director and Chief Researcher, Hurun Report India, said in a press statement.

Vidya Shah, CEO of EdelGive Foundation, added that the list is working towards better evidence-based giving for non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

"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", she said.