To celebrate his 60th birthday, Asia’s richest man, Gautam Adani, and his family have promised to donate roughly $8 billion to a variety of charitable initiatives.
The Adani Foundation will oversee the donation, which will be used to support healthcare, education, and skill development. In a recent interview, Adani stated that this was “one of the largest transfers made to a foundation in Indian corporate history,” adding that this commitment also celebrated his father, Shantilal Adani’s 100th birthday.
The Indian mogul, a first-generation businessman who turns 60 on Friday, joins the ranks of world’s richest individuals like Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg who have donated huge amounts of their fortunes to charity. The donation pledged by Adani is approximately half of what Bill and Melinda Gates would give to their foundation in 2021.
According to a 2021 report by Hurun India and EdelGive Foundation, among Indian billionaires, Azim Premji, the former chairman of Wipro Ltd., has the charitable trust with the largest endowment estimated at $21 billion, while Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ltd., is in charge of the Tata Trusts, which have donated more than $102 billion in today’s money.
What you should know
- According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani has an estimated net worth of almost $92 billion.
- Adani has increased his wealth by a little bit more than $15 billion this year as a result of an explosive rise in the stock price of his firms, making him the world’s largest wealth creator.
- In order to codify strategy and choose how to allocate funding in these three sectors, he stated, “We will invite three expert panels in the next months.” The Adani family will play supporting roles on the committees, the tycoon said, adding that there were plans to add one or two more priority areas in the upcoming months.
- The Adani Group, which began as a tiny agro-trading company in 1988, has grown into a conglomerate that specializes in the trading, mining, transportation, production, and distribution of electricity. Recently, it has expanded into cement, data centres, airports, and renewable energy.
- The organization’s billionaire founder has also promised to invest a total of $70 billion by 2030 to establish his company as the leading producer of renewable energy worldwide.
- Since its founding in 1996, the Adani Foundation, headed by Gautam’s wife Priti Adani, has engaged on social initiatives in India’s rural hinterland. According to its website, it has reached more than 3.7 million people in 2,409 villages across 16 states in India.