This man’s generosity crashed the wealth of Indian billionaires by $16 billion

• Premji’s donations have left a dent of $16 billion in the collective wealth of Indian billionaires.
  
• According to Forbes, the wealth of Indian billionaires shrunk by 23% to $313 billion due to coronavirus.
  
• A part of this is because Premji’s wealth decreased from $22.6 billion in 2019 to $6.1 billion this year.
  
• Recently, his charitable initiative — Azim Premji Foundation and Wipro — the IT major he founded — set aside ₹1125 crore to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
  
  

Apart from depressing accounts of slowdown and Corona crash of stock markets, there is yet another reason why Indian billionaires are a tad poorer this year. It is generosity, and that too from one unique billionaire who gave away 73% of his wealth, according to Forbes.

Azim Premji donated as much as $16 billion of his wealth, and that has affected the collective wealth number of 102 Indian billionaires.

According to Forbes, the wealth of all billionaires in India shrunk by 23% to $313 billion from $406 billion last year. A part of this happened because Premji’s wealth decreased from $22.6 billion in 2019 to $6.1 billion.

Last year, Indian billionaires lost as much as $93 billion, and Premji’s donations had a small but impactful effect on their collective wealth.

Premji is one of the world’s most generous billionaires and has also opened his heart and purse as India fights the Covid-19 pandemic.

His charitable initiative — Azim Premji Foundation and Wipro — the IT major he founded — set aside ₹1125 crore to fight the pandemic. This is the biggest donation made by any billionaire in India so far.

In March 2019, Premji set aside 34% of his Wipro shares worth $7.5 billion for charity. Until last June 2019, Premji’s total contribution to philanthropy stood $21 billion — which was 30% greater than his net worth at that time.

In 2013, he also agreed to give away half of his wealth to support an initiative led by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates two of the richest men in the world

In 2001, Premji started Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organization which aims to improve public school education in India. Currently, foundation works out of seven Indian states with over 350,000 schools.

See also: Azim Premji – India's most generous billionaire – and companies donate ₹1,125 crore to fight Covid-19