Philanthropy Meet: India Inc Converges to Promote Charity

Maiden charity meet highlights the need for help in areas vital to India's devpt

Dozens of India's wealthiest individuals huddled together on Friday to discuss philanthropy in the first such gathering of its kind in the country. Without any overt plea for charitable giving, the nearly 50 men and women who attended the event, were given a glimpse of the crying need for extra help in areas that are vital to India's development. 

The event, a brainchild of Wipro founder and philanthropist Azim Premji, is a subtle, carefully-crafted attempt at catalysing charitable giving by rich Indians. The media was shut out so that the discussions could be frank. And it was made clear right in the beginning that the invitees were not obliged to commit any money to charitable giving. 

The event, with a session each on education, healthcare, water and agriculture, was cohosted by Premji, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata. Gates, who along with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, has persuaded dozens of Americans to pledge the majority of their wealth to charity, spoke about the imperative for philanthropy, one of those who attended the event, said on condition of anonymity. Gates, this person said, spoke about how history has shown that leaving behind wealth to serve good causes is better than letting offspring inherit it. 

Among those in attendance were Analjit Singh (Max India), Anil Agarwal (Vedanta Group), Anu Aga (ex-Thermax), Cyrus Mistry (Tata Group), Cyrus Poonawalla (Poonawalla Group), GM Rao (GMR Group), GVK Reddy (GVK Group), Hemendra Kothari (DSP Group), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon), Kris Gopalakrishnan (Infosys), MV Subbaiah (Murugappa Group), Nandan Nilekani (ex-Infosys), Naveen Jindal (JSPL), Nimesh Kampani (JM Financial), Omkar Kanwar (Apollo Tyres), Vallabh Bhanshali (Enam), Sunil Bharti Mittal (Airtel) and VG Sidhartha (Café Coffee Day). Also in attendance were Premji's sons Rishad and Tareq. 

One of the main messages was that it is possible for individuals to play a big role in transforming society. Also, while the government has a number of schemes aimed at the poor, improper implementation means that the gaps remain largely unfilled. One of the suggestions was that the government and wealthy individuals could cocreate schemes with a structure that ensures the proper delivery of services for the poor. 

One of the participants remarked that wealth and knowledge, if they are not shared, are useless. Another suggested that while Gates has shown himself an exemplar of generosity by pledging to donate a majority of his wealth to charity, it would be right too if some individuals gave away lesser proportions, say about a tenth of their wealth or 15%. Premji, while summing up, urged that for maximum impact, rich individuals should give away as much as they possibly can. Wipro's founder has so far given nearly . 9,000 crore to the Premji Foundation working to improve the quality of education in India.

The event, a brainchild of Wipro founder and philanthropist Azim Premji, was co-hosted by Microsoft founder Bill Gates

Bihar is country’s fastest growing state at 13.1% Gujarat Grows At 9.1%, Fails To Make It To Top 5

New Delhi: Bihar, which was synonymous with poverty, has emerged as the fastest growing state for the second year running, clocking a scorching 13.1% growth in 2011-12. Not just that, on the back of four years of double-digit growth, its economy is now bigger than that of Punjab—until recently the preferred destination of Bihari migrant workers. 

    Among the top five states, Bihar is followed by Delhi and Puducherry. Mineral-rich Chhattisgarh, which many had written off due to the violent Naxal movement, and Goa complete the top five growth listings, according to data available with the ministry of statistics. 

    Gujarat—a favoured destination for investors, both domestic and foreign—is again out of the reckoning for the top five slots, expanding 9.1% during the last financial year, according to data submitted to the Planning Commission on Friday. Among the more industrialized states, only Tamil Nadu was ahead of Gujarat with 9.4% growth (at 2004-05 prices). 

    Punjab, known as the grain bowl of India, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, both IT hubs, and Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, clocked growth that was lower than India's GDP growth of 6.5% in 2011-12. 

    Economists, however, said that 9% growth by some of the larger states such as Gujarat and Tamil Nadu was credible given that they were growing on a much larger base. State could again be No. 1 economy 

    In comparison, states such as Bihar and Chhattisgarh had a much lower base. For instance, at 2004-05 prices, economic activity in Tamil Nadu's was estimated at Rs 4.28 lakh crore, the highest among states for which data is available with the Central Statistics Office (CSO), while Bihar's gross state domestic product (GSDP) at 2004-05 prices was estimated at Rs 1.63 lakh crore. 

    In fact, Tamil Nadu beat Uttar Pradesh as the second largest state economy, after Maharashtra. UP's economy was estimated to be worth Rs 4.19 lakh crore in 2011-12, while Maharashtra, for which data is unavailable, is expected to retain its number one slot given that its economy was worth over Rs 7 lakh crore in 2010-11. In recent years, Maharashtra has lost out on investment to states such as Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and growth has slowed. 

    With the Bihar government taking up road building and other construction work in a big way, and with the state's law and order situation improving, consumers who were earlier wary of flaunting their wealth are now buying cars and bikes at an unprecedented pace. Rural demand too has got a boost with agricultural productivity rising for several crops, and with an improvement in connectivity and state-funded programmes for education, health and livelihood. Bihar is currently among the fastest growing markets for tractors. 

    "There are two things happening in Bihar. One, investment sentiment has picked up largely because of governance issues. Two, Bihar's growth is against a very low base. But there is a lesson in it for others," said N R Bhanumurthy, professor at the National Institute of Public Finance & Policy. 

    "States with internal demand will do better while those that are dependent on corporate demand tend to perform relatively worse at a time when corporate investments are low," added Pronab Sen, principal advisor in the Planning Commission and a former chief statistician. Incidentally, data for Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which made up what were once the Bimaru states, was unavailable.