Hurun India and EdelGive have issued their annual Philanthropy List, ranking the most generous individuals in India. HCL Technologies founder Shiv Nadar tops the list.

Nadar, who donates through the corporate entity HCL Foundation, gave away $140 million (INR 1,161 crore) over the last year. HCL Foundation focuses on education, health, skill development, and climate mitigation and response.

The second on the list was well-known Indian philanthropist Azim Premji, who founded the Azim Premji Foundation in 2013 with a $2.2 billion donation. Premji was previously at the top of the India Philanthropy List in 2020. This year, his total giving amounted to $58 million (INR 484 crore). EdelGive and Hurun have named Premji on their ‘Philanthropists of the Century’ list, where he is the only living donor listed.

Another well-known Indian philanthropist Nandan Nilekani, who donated $19 million (INR 195 crore) in 2022, ranks ninth on the list.

Other donors at the top of the list include Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani, Aditya Birla’s Kumar Mangalam Birla, and Mindtree’s Susmita and Subroto Baghchi.

The top four on the list – Nadar, Premji, Ambani, and Birla – all donated less in 2022 than they did in 2021.

The combined donations of all individuals on the list has declined by almost sixty percent from the previous year’s total. In this year’s report, the combined donations amounted to $684 million – in 2021’s report the total was $1.7 billion. The sum in 2020’s report was also greater, at $1.4 billion. The decline could be explained by an increase in donations in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Published for the ninth year in a row by the EdelGive Foundation and Hurun Report, the EdelGive Hurun Philanthropy List comes after the Hurun India Rich List. The list features over 1,000 of India’s wealthiest individuals and has been published in September 2022 for the eleventh consecutive year.