Which of India’s billionaires were the most generous in 2020? Mukesh Ambani funded Covid-19 relief but it was Wipro’s Azim Premji who donated a whopping US$1.1 billion

Mar 9 , 2021

Billionaires Shiv Nadar, Mukesh Ambani and Azim Premji all gave a chunk of their wealth away in 2020. Photos: Shiv Nadar University, @newsparodyy/Twitter, AFP

Azim Premji, known as ‘the Czar of the Indian IT industry’, was the first Indian to sign the Giving Pledge started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett

Other big givers include Shiv Nadar, Anil Agarwal and Kumar Mangalam Birla, who donated to charities for everything from education to health care

India is home to dozens of billionaires (119 at last count, to be exact) but much of the county’s 1.4 billion population still lives below the poverty line. With so much wealth disparity, it’s a welcome sight when the country’s most fortunate step up and give back through charitable donations, funding much-needed community projects, or disaster relief.

Here are India’s most generous philanthropists of 2020 according to the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List.

Azim Premji

At the top of the list by a wide margin is Azim Premji. This tycoon of tech (he’s known as the “Czar of the Indian IT industry”) is worth an estimated US$8.5 billion through his company Wipro. In 2020, he donated a staggering US$1.1 billion – yes, that’s a 10-figure number we just quoted, and around 13 per cent of his wealth. His charitable organisation, the Azim Premji Foundation, boasts one of the largest endowments in the world at US$21 billion, and uses its vast coffers to improve school education across the country. Premji was also the first Indian to sign the Giving Pledge, a campaign started by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates that asks the world’s richest to donate most of their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Shiv Nadar

With an estimated worth of US$24 billion, Shiv Nadar is India’s third-richest man according to Forbes and the founder and chairman of HCL Technologies, one of India’s biggest IT corporations. Already a long-time philanthropist, Nadar gave a commendable US$109 million in 2020, or 0.45 per cent of his wealth. Much like top-giver Premji, Nadar’s eponymous foundation also helps fund educational initiatives across the country, including a leadership academy for underprivileged students and a technology-driven reading programme aimed at reducing illiteracy across India.

Mukesh Ambani

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