Charity is tougher than business: Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett swears he hasn’t given away a dime of what he ‘needs’. “I have everything I need — the money to buy food, to take my family to a movie. What I am left with after that, I have no use for, whereas it is of great use to others,” the world’s greatest investor and one of the greatest philanthropists said.

During the first leg of his India visit in Bangalore on Tuesday, Buffett talked business, India and philanthropy.

He should know about philanthropy, after all, he is giving away 99% of his wealth, which is estimated at Rs225,000 crore.

Besides business, he’s here to ask India’s wealthy — standard fixtures in global rich lists — to loosen their purse strings and spread their wealth around.

He warned that charity was not as easy as business because it defied intellect and logic. This makes it difficult to estimate the outcome of effort, he said.

“It’s tough. The market system does not give you a feedback on philanthropy like it does if you are running a business. If you do the wrong thing in philanthropy you don’t get a feedback.

“It is more difficult because you are tackling tough problems of society. In business you can look for easy situations but in philanthropy, you are tackling problems that will defy the intellect and money for a long period of time. There can be a disease that could be hard to eradicate. For example, polio is close to being eradicated but it hasn’t been eradicated. But these things should not deter people from steering clear of it.”    

Had Buffett’s wife had her way, he would have started philanthropy at a much younger age. “My wife certainly felt I should have started early. I felt I would compound my money over a period so it did not make sense to give away money earlier on.”

Speaking about India, Buffet refused to put it in the emerging market category. “I would not consider India an emerging market. I consider it a very big market Such large markets like India, China, Brazil, UK, Germany and others fit us (our investment strategy). Very small markets don’t,” he said.

The chairman and CEO of the Berkshire Hathaway, which has invested in diverse industries across the globe, regretted his late entry into the Indian market. “I guess, you have to regard me as a bit retarded because I should have been here much sooner but I’ve been a sort of stay-at-home fellow for most of my life.”

Buffett also thanked India for giving him Ajit Jain, touted as of his successors. “Ajit is much better than I am. I owe to the people of India an enormous amount for sending me Ajit Jain. He has probably made a lot more money for Berkshire Hathaway than I have. He is not looking to take my job. If he was, then the board of directors would have put him in it.”