Azim Premji's Very Generous $2bn Charity Donation

Image courtesy: Reuters

Billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffet will be proud of Wipro’s Azim Premji, who has donated Rs 8846 crore for education in India. Premji’s philanthropic act is the largest ever by an Indian.

Just months ago, the two billionaires were asking other members of the Rich List to donate large chunks of their wealth to charity. And now, Premji, chairman of Wipro and India’s third richest man, has pledged $2 billion of his estimated $18 billion wealth to the Azim Premji Trust.

This money will finance the activities of the Azim Premji Foundation that works to promote education in rural India as well as the Azim Premji University in Bangalore.

Others Who Are Giving their Wealth Away

Earlier this year, Gates said he would donate half of his $53 billion wealth to charity. He recently made the largest charitable donation ever, of $10 billion for vaccines for children. Buffet too pledged $37 billion or 99% of his wealth to charity in 2006.

Recently, the Tata group and millionaire businessman Anand Mahindra pledged $50 million and $10 million to Harvard University.