Indian tycoon donates £5.6bn to his charity foundation
ONE of India’s richest men, nicknamed “India’s Bill Gates”, has pledged $7.5billion (£5.65billion) to charity, confirming his status as the country’s most generous philanthropist.
Azim Premji, 73, a billionaire known for his basic, non-flashy lifestyle, pledged the country’s biggest-ever single donation using 34 per cent of his shares in his software company.
The tycoon has now donated a total of $21billion to his Azim Premji Foundation and has a remaining fortune of more than $18billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mr Premji inherited his father’s vegetable oil and rice company and transformed it into one of the leading software firms in the world.
His philanthropy has made him a popular figure in India, but he chooses to stay out of the limelight and rarely makes public statements except on business matters, preferring his foundation to discuss social projects.
Other Indian billionaires are not as altruistic as the mogul from Bangalore.
The Indian Philanthropy Report, released last week by consulting firm Bain & Company, said that apart from Mr Premji’s, donations of Rs100 million (£1.9 million) and above have fallen four per cent since 2014, despite an increase of around 12 per cent in those worth of over $50million.