Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Wipro Chairman and founder Azim Premji has been named the ‘Most charitable person in India’ by Shanghai (China) based Hurun Research Institute for the second year in a row. Premji donated over Rs 12,000 crore of his personal wealth to charity during April 2013- October 2104 period.
Much of the charity went to the Azim Premji Foundation, which was established in 2001. The foundation primarily focuses on education.
The 69-year old industralist was ranked at number 4 in ‘India Rich List’ with an own fortune of Rs 86, 100 crore. Apparently Premji gave as much as six times more than the person who is followed by him in the list.
Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources gave away Rs 1,796 crore and stood second in the list. HCL founder Shiv Nadar donated Rs 1,136 crore, Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, donated Rs 620 crore. Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani donated Rs 603 crore.
The Nilekanis came in sixth in the list as they donated nearly Rs 500 crore. Google's KR Shriram donated Rs 377 crore.
Entrepreuner Ronnie Screwvala and his wife Zarina donated Rs 350 crore.
Infosys' Kris Gopalkrishnan donated Rs 255 crore and rounding up the top ten was construction tycoon Ravi Pillai having donated Rs 145 crore.
The average age of philanthropists in the country has come down to 56 years as compared to 63 years over the last year.
