The founder and chairman of Wipro, Azim Premji, has consistently been by far the biggest giver among Indian billionaires. According to a recently report, the industrialist donated 23 percent on-year last fiscal year, amounting to roughly Rs 9,713 crore – topping the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List for the umteenth time. In 2020, he donated Rs 7,904 crore to various charitable causes.
In 2021, the Azim Premji Foundation also doubled its allocation towards the pandemic from ₹1,125 crore to ₹2,125 crore to expand work on vaccination across ten Indian states, with a commitment to increase this further if the need demands.
In 2001, the billionaire established the Azim Premji Foundation, a nonprofit that started with the purpose of improving the quality education in rural India. It works with over 3.5 lakh schools. A decade later the Azim Premji University was set up to address challenges the foundation faced during its work in elementary education.
In 2013, Premji became the first Indian billionaire to sign the Giving Pledge, an initiative by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet that encourages wealthy individuals to pledge half their fortunes to philanthropy.