“I think this is spectacular,” said Rohini Nilekani, wife of Infosys Technologies co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who is an active philanthropist in her own right. “ It comes exactly at the right time when India’s very rich people have to show their personal commitment, from their own personal money, to achieve broader social justice.”
Premji’s philanthropic activities focus on education for the poor and this latest endowment will be used to further that purpose. His foundation has been working in the rural hinterland in partnership with various state governments to upgrade the quality of public schools. It has helped over 25,000 schools and 2.5 million children so far. It is also setting up the Azim Premji University on a 100-acre site outside Bangalore not too far from Wipro’s headquarters, which aims to provide post graduate studies in education and development. The University was recently approved by the state government of Karnataka which enacted a special legislative act in March. It is expected to start offering programs by next July and open its campus by 2012.
In a press statement Premji commented that : “Good education is crucial to building a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society… All our efforts, including the University that we are setting up, are focused on the underprivileged and disadvantaged sections of our society.”
“This big-ticket donation symbolizes Premji’s commitment which has been evident right from the beginning, ” said Dileep Ranjekar, co-CEO of the 9-year old foundation. The Foundation got a start in 2001 when Premji earmarked Wipro shares worth $125 million for it. “ You could say this latest endowment is our first big corpus. It readies us for the next big leap in our activities and scaling up substantially, ”"added co- CEO Anurag Behar. In a bid to extend its reach, the Foundation plans to establish 50 resource centers across the country.
Some observers say that Premji was pressed to dilute his stake by a regulatory requirement that all listed companies have a minimum 25% public holding. “ But there’s a big difference here. He hasn’t liquidated shares and put the money into his own account. What Premji’s done is commendable, ” asserted Deval Sanghavi, founder of Dasra, a strategic philanthropy advisory in Mumbai.
Premji’s generosity is likely to spur copycat gestures by India’s wealthy who are known to lag behind in sharing their newly acquired fortunes. But a few have already opened their purses. In April, tech tycoon Shiv Nadar made headlines when he donated shares worth $125 million to his foundation. Earlier, mining magnate Anil Agarwal had made a splash when he pledged $1 billion for a new university (which alas, has still to see the light of day).
“ Many more of us have to do the same, “ insists Nilekani. “ It is no longer just a moral but also a strategic imperative. Indian philanthropy has to blaze a trail, even as we introspect on the very creation of such extremes of wealth.”
