Will an Indian Billionaire Take the
Two of the wealthiest individuals in the world—Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett—made a pledge last month that has since been replicated by 38 other American billionaires: to give at least half of their net worth to charity. Collectively,
wow gold the pledge could raise $600 billion, its two founders have said.But in India—home to two of the richest five people in the world, according to Forbes Magazine—billionaires have yet to make a similar commitment
Chloe Handbags. AFP/Getty Images Forty of the world’s wealthiest individuals have pledged to give at least half of their wealth to charity. So far, none of them is an Indian. Above, beggars at work during a monsoon shower in New Delhi.Spokespersons for the wealthy Indians contacted by India Real Time, who included Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Azim Premji and Sunil Mittal, danced around the issue or declined to comment. Requests for comment from seven Indian billionaires were not returned, and a spokeswoman for Dilip Shanghvi,
CHINA TRAVEL chairman of Sun Pharmaceuticals, who is worth $4.6 billion, said Mr. Shanghvi “would prefer not to talk on personal philanthropy.”A March 2010 study by Bain & Company found that Indians collectively donate 0.6% of their country’s GDP to charity. While higher than other emerging markets like Brazil (0.3%) and China (0.1%), the amount of collective donation still pales in comparison to Western nations like Canada (1.3%) and the U.S. (2.2%).Just 10% of charitable giving in India comes from individuals or companies, compared to 75% in the United States, the Bain & Co. study reported. India’s biggest donor: the government.But the giving gap doesn’t necessarily mean American billionaires have softer hearts than those of Indians.lndian billionaires donate less than their Western counterparts not because they care less, said Emily Harrison, founder of Innovaid, a Mumbai-based consultancy company for high net-worth individuals who want to establish charitable foundations, but because the channels for giving are fewer and, more often than not,
Free Game riddled with corruption.“Indians just don’t trust the organizations that want money or that they could give to,” said Ms. Harrison. “Often they find themselves in the position that even if they want to give, there is no mechanism available to them by which they could give.”The trust deficit has historically given wealthy Indians three options: establish their own foundations; give to local or hometown institutions they know and trust; or not give.“Culturally, Indians want 100% of their funding to go into tangible purposes. For example, they want to know exactly how many school books or meals were donated,” Ms. Harrison said. “They don’t want to see any of that money go into administrative costs, which creates a huge problem for donating through NGOs. They trust their local temples and churches.”“In the U.S., people can be more trusting because there is far less corruption,” she added. “They believe the money will be spent. They understand that there will be costs involved.”But the Bain & Co. study hinted at another reason for the tight-fisted nature of the Indian rich.“As a society, charitable donations do not necessarily win social recognition,” the study says. “Instead, many of the newly wealthy view increased material wealth as the key to improving their social standing.”
WOW GOLDStill, Messrs. Gates and Buffett hope to convince billionaires in emerging economies to sign on to their pledge. The pair is set to travel to China in September and to India next March to try to establish a global foothold for the pledge.“I don’t think they’re ever going to pledge half,” Ms. Harrison said of the Indian rich. “Even though I would love to see that.”
