Philanthropic giving from India’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals has fallen by almost a third over the past year, according to the India Philanthropy Report 2023 from Dasra and Bain & Co. According to the research, the dramatic fall is due to significantly reduced grantmaking by the Azim Premji Foundation.

During the previous financial year, India’s wealthy were giving $1.3 billion to philanthropy, while during 2022, that figure dropped to $514 million.

According to the report, the Azim Premji Foundation gave over $1 billion less last year, due to a share buyback of the Indian IT corporation Wipro, which helped the Foundation access more liquidity. However, even excluding the Premji Foundation’s drop in giving, ‘Indian UNHI contribution has not kept pace with wealth creation’, said the report, and it is ‘below par, with a five per cent contraction in FY2022.’

The drop in giving by the ultra-wealthy was happening while their own personal net worth went up by almost 10 per cent – with those in the top level of wealth seeing a 19 per cent growth across their personal balances.

According to the Dasra and Bain & Co. report, India’s ultra-rich contribute a smaller percentage of their overall wealth to philanthropy than their peers in the US, UK, and China do. The average contribution of UNHIs in India was equivalent to 0.06 per cent of their total net worth, compared to 1.37 per cent in the US, 0.33 per cent in the UK, and 0.38 per cent in China during 2022.

While giving from Indian UNHIs has fallen, corporate social responsibility spending in India has gone up by five per cent, showing promising growth from a different part of the philanthropy sector.