When stock market wizard Rakesh Jhunjhunwala decided to open his purse strings and make an announcement of giving away Rs 5,000 crore in charity, it made headlines for that it is a rare declaration from Dalal Street in recent times.
The list of who’s who share their personal wealth for noble causes and to NGOs in the country are many in Corporate India with the House of Tatas leading the list of donors. In 2014, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, K Dinesh and SD Shibulal’s wife sold 32.6 million shares valued at Rs 6,484 crore ($1.05 billion). In 2016, Infosys co-founders S Gopalakrishnan and SD Shibulal, and some of the latter’s family members sold 7.5 million equity shares of the company for Rs 862 crore on exchanges to partly aid philanthropic activities.
The recently published Hurun List revealed the top 10 of the country’s richest in India Inc who also figured in the 2015 Hurun India Philanthropy list. Azim Premji, who is sixth on India’s rich list, was at number one position in the 2015 philanthropy list. The others who were on top 10 in the rich list includes Mukesh Ambani, Pallonji Mistry and Shiv Nadar also figure in the Philanthropy list