Most of city’s corporates do not have a legacy like the Tatas and Birlas.
From being the IT capital of the country, the city has surely now become the philanthropic capital. Corporates in Bangalore have for long pledged to various philanthropic activities from cancer research foundation, to working towards sustainable environment, education, to helping people becoming more employable.
“I think every person who is fortunate to have enough wealth should do something, however little, towards the society. I feel corporates have a bigger role to play as they have the power to make a change that affects many,” says Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, founder and CMD, Biocon.
Shaw has established the Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre at Narayana Hrudayalaya. Recently, she set up the Mazumdar Shaw Centre for Translational Research, which will primarily work in stem cell research, personalised medicine, breast cancer, head and neck cancer.
Mohandas Pai, who has set up Akshaya Patra Foundation along with other philanthropists, feels philanthropy should come natural to people. “Bangalore definitely has seen hosts of such activities and it makes me proud to be part of this city. This shows the city’s progressive nature,” he asserts.
Interestingly, most of the city’s corporates do not have a legacy like the Tatas and Birlas. “The wealth has been created mainly by the technology boom. It was easy for us to spread the wealth as none of us had a legacy. Most of us have had a middle class upbringing,” points out Rohini Nilekani, who sold her Infosys stocks last year to invest in social causes.
“The Bangalore culture has been different. In fact, we all joke that we are competitive in philanthropy as well. Whenever we meet, we seldom discuss stocks. Most of our discussions revolve around either politics or philanthropy,” she adds. Nandan Nilekani has donated Rs 50 crore to Indian Institute for Human Settlements.
N R Narayana Murthy has Infosys Foundation which works in partnership with non governmental organisations to help underprivileged communities in healthcare. Similarly, Azim Premji foundation works in primary education.
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