IT major Wipro’s Azim Premji has emerged as the most generous Indian in FY20 by donating rupees 22 crores a day or rupees 7,904 crores in a year.
Premji surpassed HCL Technologies’ Shiv Nadar by a wide margin, a report stated.
Nadar had earlier topped the list collated by Hurun Report India and Edelgive Foundation.
Nadar’s donations stood at rupees 795 crores for FY20 as against rupees 826 crores in the previous year.
Premji had donated rupees 426 crores in the previous year.
Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries retained the third spot among the list of donors by donating rupees 458 crores as against rupees 402 crores a year ago.
These business tycoons have also done their share in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic with the top giver being the Tata Sons with a rupees 1,500- crore commitment.
While Premji committed rupees 1,125 crores to the pandemic, and he was followed by Ambani at rupees 510 crores.
A bulk of the corporate commitments have been given to the PM-CARES Fund that was created in the wake of the pandemic this year.
Premji’s generosity pulled the total donations up by 175% to rupees 12,050 crores in FY20, the list said.
The Azim Premji Endowment Fund owns 13.6 per cent of the promoter’s shareholding in Wipro and has the right to receive all money earned from the promoter shares.
Education is the highest beneficiary sector with 90 philanthropists, led by Premji and Nadar, donating rupees 9,324 crores.
Healthcare came second with 84 donors, while 41 donors made their contribution to the disaster relief and rehabilitation sector.
Among the cities, Mumbai led by donor count at 36, followed by New Delhi and Bengaluru at 20 and 10 respectively.