Corporate philanthropy is fast becoming popular among India's large business houses.
Following Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani and his wife's decision to pledge half of their wealth to charity, the Bharti family, owner of businesses like Airtel headed by Sunil Mittal, has pledged 10% of its wealth worth or about Rs 7,000 crore towards philanthropy.
The pledge includes 3% of the family's stake in group flagship Airtel, towards supporting the activities of Bharti Foundation, the group's philanthropic arm mainly in the areas of education.
"With this commitment, the Bharti family envisions to significantly step up the scope and reach of Bharti Foundation's activities, and further enable the Foundation to develop and execute innovative development models to support the aspirations of India's underprivileged, including students of Satya Bharti Schools," the Foundation said in a statement.
Set up in 2000, Bharti Foundation has grown in scale evolving beyond customary cheque book philanthropy to design and implement innovative development models in the area of education.
Currently, 8,000 teachers work across multiple programmes educating 240,000 underprivileged children in rural India.
The foundation now plans to set up Satya Bharti University, a world-class university to offer free education to deserving youth from poor families.
"Firm believers in Mahatma Gandhi's concept of Trusteeship, we have always reckoned that ownership of business is a social responsibility, and wealth creation cannot be an end in itself," Sunil Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said.
Despite being ridiculed by leading global philanthropists like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, who's Giving Pledge initiative was recently supported by Nilekani, corporate bigwigs have largely remained away from serious game-changing charity, notable exceptions being the Tatas and some IT sector pioneers including Azim Premji or Shiv Nadar.
Pledges of Nilekani followed by Bharti are expected to encourage other super rich promoters of large business houses.
Not enough is being done by promoters of large corporate houses, either on their individual capacities or through their companies, says the India Philanthropy Report 2017 by Bain & Co.
"In response to the requirements of the Companies Act, companies have begun focusing on their CSR activities. However, in relative terms, the share of corporate philanthropy in funds raised for the development sector has declined. In 2016, companies accounted for 15% of the total share of private philanthropy, down from 30% in 2011," the report released earlier mentions.
SELECT CLUB
- The pledge includes 3% of the family's stake in group flagship Airtel, towards supporting the activities of Bharti Foundation
- The foundation now plans to set up Satya Bharti University, a world-class university to offer free education to deserving youth from poor families
