Premji increased his donations 23 per cent on-year during the last fiscal, as per the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2021, released on Thursday. The Azim Premji Foundation doubled its allocation towards the pandemic from ₹1,125 crore to ₹2,125 crore to expand work on vaccination across ten states, with a commitment to increase this further if the need demands.

HCL Technologies’s founder-chairman Shiv Nadar once again retained the second spot on the list with annual donation of ₹1,263 crore.

Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, was on the third spot with donations to the tune of ₹577 crore during the fiscal. Kumar Mangalam Birla was fourth on the list with contribution of ₹377 crore.

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani gained two spots on the list this year, reaching the fifth spot with total donations worth ₹183 crore. The Hinduja family occupied the sixth spot on the list with donations of ₹166 crore.

The Bajaj family was on the seventh spot on the Hurun India Philanthropy List with donations of ₹136 crore. The eighth rank went jointly to Gautam Adani and Anil Agarwal for donations of ₹130 crore during FY21 – while the former increased donations by 48 per cent on-year, the latter reduced them by 40 per cent, as per the list.

The Burman family of Dabur group was on the tenth spot with donations worth ₹114 crore, marking a rise of 502 per cent. AM Naik, former Larsen & Toubro chairman, is 11th on the list with a donation of ₹112 crore, following a pledged to give away 75 per cent of his income for charitable purposes.

The list saw seventeen additions this year, which accounted for a total of ₹261 crore in donations. With a donation of ₹50 crore, ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala secured a spot on the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2021 as the most generous entrant.

Zerodha co-founders Nithin and Nikhil Kamath committed ₹750 crore over the next few years to support individuals, organisations and companies working on solutions for climate change; they are 35th on the list. Nikhil Kamath, 35, is also the youngest entrant on the list.

The Hurun India Philanthropy List featured nine women this year, led by a ₹69 crore donation by Rohini Nilekani of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. Leena Gandhi Tewari of USV succeeded her with a donation of ₹24 crore, and Anu Aga of Thermax donated ₹20 crore.

“At present, most of the money is going to fundamental aspects like education and healthcare because of the requirements on the ground. Nilekani has indeed made interesting contributions, and in 10 years, we will have broader civil society issues feature as primary causes,” said Hurun India’s Managing Director and Chief Researcher Anas Rahman Junaid.