There is no denying the global phenomena of growing income disparity and this is true for India as well. A 2014 study by Oxfam showed that the world’s top 80 billionaires had a cumulative wealth of over $1.9 trillion, which is more than the poorest 3.5 billion people on the planet. What’s more, the richest 20 per cent in the world own more than 90 per cent of global wealth.
With the rich become richer and the poor poorer by the day, corporate philanthropy in India has the opportunity to play a leading role in helping to tackle some of its burning issues and challenges. This, especially in areas of education and skills development, job creation, community development and health which affect majority of the Indian masses and have been traditionally ignored by public institutions.
With India slated to be among the top five economies of the world, its corporates today are well equipped in terms of resources to create large-scale impact in critical sectors of the economy and play a vital role in economic growth. Annually, leading philanthropists across the globe spend between 2 and 5 per cent of their net worth in philanthropy, while in India as per the list of Biggest Givers in 2014, the average giving range across some of the biggest philanthropists is between 0.4 to 1.7 per cent.
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