EdelGive-Hurun India Philanthropy List 2025: Record giving by India’s billionaires, but systemic gaps persist

The EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2025 features 191 individuals who cumulatively donated about ₹10,500 crore, marking an 85% jump over the past three years. Yet, this record-breaking rise, both in scale and visibility, is as much about deepening intent as it is about widening gaps.

“Over the last twelve years, the numbers have gone up. Personal philanthropy has gone up. And there’s a consistency we’re beginning to see across many of these givers,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, founder and chief researcher, Hurun India. The top 25 donors alone contributed ₹50,000 crore in just three years — roughly ₹46 crore every single day.

At the top of the list, Shiv Nadar and family retained their position as India’s most generous with ₹2,708 crore in annual donations, while Rohini Nilekani, with ₹204 crore, was the most generous woman philanthropist. Three professional managers - A.M. Naik, Amit and Archana Chandra, and Prashanth and Amitha Prakash - stood out for giving entirely from their personal wealth, cumulatively donating ₹850 crore over the last three years.

The rise of personal giving

A clear shift, Junaid noted, is visible among individuals who have recently “cashed out” through exits or IPOs. “If you look at the top donors giving from personal capacity like Nandan and Rohini Nilekani, Ranjan Pai, or Harish and Bina Shah, most of them have had a cash-out event. Ranjan Pai, for instance, donated ₹160 crore this year alone,” he said.

The threshold to enter the top 10 has more than doubled, from ₹74 crore in 2020 to ₹173 crore this year, while the bar for the top 25 has tripled since 2014. The number of individuals donating over ₹100 crore has gone from two in 2018 to eighteen in 2025.

But if the numbers suggest momentum, the system itself is still catching up. “Philanthropy has increased, the list is encouraging, but I’d hesitate to say we’ve shifted towards being fully strategic,” said Naghma Mulla, CEO of EdelGive Foundation. “Some really inspiring people are putting their money and influence behind causes, but let’s not mistake this for a system shift. Only 0.1% of India’s total wealth is being given away.”

A mindset evolving but slowly

According to Mulla, the pandemic played a big role in awakening India’s empathy economy. “COVID gave us a pressure point where generosity overflowed. Once the dust settled, that consciousness stayed,” she said. More philanthropists are now aligning their giving with personal values - asking what their families should stand for and where their money can make the most difference.

Still, much of Indian giving remains program-focused rather than ecosystem-driven. “In India, philanthropy has traditionally been shy and deeply personal,” Mulla said. “People don’t talk about it because they believe you shouldn’t brag about whom you help. But we can’t afford to be shy anymore, we need visible role models.”

She added that India’s philanthropic ecosystem remains underfunded in critical areas like institutional capacity. “We still look at funding systems - salaries, technology, logistics - as wasteful. But if development and philanthropy have to grow, we have to fund the boring. That’s what builds real systems.”

What India funds and what it doesn’t

The list shows education dominating with ₹4,166 crore in donations (40% of total giving), followed by healthcare (₹971 crore). Newer areas like environment, sustainability, arts, and rural transformation are emerging, but causes like mental health, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and disability rights remain severely underrepresented.

“The good news is we’re seeing diversification, environment and sustainability, arts and culture, even rural transformation have broken into the top five,” Mulla said. “But we need real competition between causes.”

Junaid pointed to another fascinating shift: the rise of long-term philanthropy. “You now have tech founders funding causes whose results they may never see,” he said, citing Kris Gopalakrishnan’s brain research initiative. “They’re thinking of results beyond their lifetime. That’s a big change.”

Women take the lead 

This year’s list featured 24 women philanthropists, up from 21 last year. But Mulla cautioned that visibility doesn’t capture the full picture. “There are many women running the philanthropic engines in family offices who aren’t credited or given ownership,” she said. “These 24 are the visible ones but behind them are hundreds who make things move quietly.”

Junaid added that women are increasingly driving family philanthropy. “We’re seeing daughters and next-generation women take control, decide causes, and push families to contribute more,” he said.

Both Mulla and Junaid believe India’s next wave of philanthropy will be shaped by a $1 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer expected over the next decade. “As India adds another $2 trillion to its GDP by 2030, we’ll see a much bigger list,” said Junaid.

For Mulla, the goal is simpler, “We shouldn’t just grow; we should multiply.”