'Never an owner': Azim Premji's son shares father's philosophy on wealth

After Wipro's founder-chairman Azim Premji emerged as the most generous Indian for FY20, his son Rishad Premji took to Twitter to share something about his father's philosophy on wealth.

Rishad said that his father "has always believed that he was a trustee of his wealth and never its owner." Azim Premji, one of the richest men in India, is known to donate a large part of his fortune to philanthropic causes.

"My father has always believed that he was a trustee of his wealth and never it's owner.  Being part of the communities in which we live and work is also a core part of Wipro," Rishad tweeted.

Azim Premji donated Rs 22 crore a day or Rs 7,904 crore (in personal capacity) in a year to emerge as the most generous Indian in FY20 and top list of India's most generous.

Also Read: Azim Premji finds philanthropy much more complex than running a business

He pipped HCL Technologies' Shiv Nadar, who had earlier topped the list collated by Hurun Report India and Edelgive Foundation, by a wide margin. Nadar's donations stood at Rs 795 crore for FY20 as against Rs 826 crore in the year-ago period. Premji had donated Rs 426 crore in the previous fiscal.

Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries retained the third spot among the list of givers by donating Rs 458 crore as against Rs 402 crore a year ago, according to the list.

The raging pandemic had the corporate honchos repurposing their donations to fight the COVID-19 infections, and the top giver on this turned out to be Tata Sons with a Rs 1,500- crore commitment, followed by Premji at Rs 1,125 crore and Ambani's Rs 510 crore.

A bulk of the corporate commitments seemed to be given to the PM-CARES Fund, with Reliance Industries committing Rs 500 crore, and Aditya Birla Group donating Rs 400 crore, the report said. Tata's commitment also includes a Rs 500 crore donation to the newly created fund.

Premji's generosity pulled the total donations up by 175 per cent to Rs 12,050 crore in FY20, the list said.

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 promoter shares, the report said.

The number of individuals who donated more than Rs 10 crore increased marginally to 78 from the year-ago period's 72, the report said.

Also Read: Wipro, Azim Premji Foundation contribute Rs 1,125 cr to tackle coronavirus crisis

With a donation of Rs 27 crore, Amit Chandra and Archana Chandra of ATE Chandra foundation are the first and only professional managers to ever enter the list.

The list includes three of Infosys' co-founders with Nandan Nilekani (Rs 159 crore), S Gopalkrishnan (Rs 50 crore), and S D Shibulal (Rs 32 crore).

The list of 109 individuals who have donated over Rs 5 crore, has seven women, led by Rohini Nilekani's Rs 47 crore.

Education is the highest beneficiary sector with 90 philanthropists, led by Premji and Nadar, donating Rs 9,324 crore, the report said, adding healthcare came second with 84 donors, and was followed by disaster relief and rehabilitation with 41 donors.

Also Read: Azim Premji, most generous Indian, donated Rs 22 crore every day; tops Hurun's philanthropy list