Gates, Buffett tap India’s wealthy for charity

Two of the world’s wealthiest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, on Thursday declared their charity roadshow to coax rich Indians to become more philanthropic a success.

Gates and Buffett met 70 top Indian business leaders at a luxury New Delhi hotel to deliver their pitch and exchange ideas on philanthropy after a similar mission to China last September.

“The people we asked, the overwhelming majority chose to come,” Gates told reporters. “There was tremendous give-and-take in the session. It’s clear there’s some great thinking going on about philanthropy.”

Gates, who co-founded Microsoft, and Buffett, known as the “Oracle of Omaha” for his legendary investment acumen, announced last year they would seek to persuade fellow billionaires to join them in committing at least half of their wealth to good causes as part of “The Giving Pledge”.

So far, 59 rich Americans have taken the pledge but the tycoons said they had not asked India’s wealthy to follow their lead — that they were only seeking to spur discussion about philanthropy.

“In neither India nor China were we asking people to make a commitment,” said Gates, who is worth $56 billion, according to Forbes magazine. “We were not passing around a tin cup.”

They had come as “cheerleaders” for philanthropy, not as “preachers”, and India’s rich would find their own way of “giving back to society,” Gates said.

But among the wealthy the duo met in the Asian economic giants “there was a positive spirit and energy,” Gates said.

Buffett, who is worth $50 billion according to Forbes, said the discussions in India and China had been very productive.

“Hearing from the people in that room, I would be almost certain you will see increases in India in the percentages going to philanthropy over next decade,” Buffett said.

India has 55 billionaires, according to Forbes, with two Indians figuring among the world’s top 10 billionaires. But scorching economic growth has widened the yawning divide between India’s rich and its teeming poor and open displays of wealth have become more common.

A study by global consultancy Bain and Co noted that “today in India, many of those with hard-earned new wealth are not eager to part with even a small amount of their money.”

Azim Premji, founder of software giant Wipro who last year gave $2 billion to education, one of the largest charitable donations in Indian history, said it was “absolutely critical” that India’s rich became more philanthropic.

But he added he detected a “new consciousness coming in” among India’s rich about the need for greater giving.

The guest list for the duo’s encounter was kept secret but it included Premji and was moderated by Rohini Nilekani, wife of Indian software tsar Nandan Nilekani and a significant philanthropist in her own right.

Gates, who stepped down in 2008 from his responsibilities at Microsoft to work full-time at the charitable Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said “philanthropy is a responsibility, a passion, and an honour.” AFP