Five Indians on list of philanthropy heroes

New Delhi, July 12

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Five Indians have made it to the Forbes Asia’s annual Heroes of Philanthropy list.

The list, which includes 40 philanthropists from 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, has the names of Vineet and Anupama Nayar, founders of the Sampark Foundation; Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India and Pune-based billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla’s son; and Bain India CEO Amit Chandra and his wife Archana Chandra, CEO of Jai Vakeel Foundation.

The Sampark Foundation boasts of a $100 million outlay funded entirely by the Nayars and represents more than half of their wealth. It is rolling out kits with child-friendly teaching aids to 50,000 government schools and 30 lakh students across Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. Poonawalla pledged $15 million last year to clean up Pune city with a fleet of 50 garbage trucks.

Amit and Archana Chandra donate 75 per cent of their earnings each year to causes ranging from education to healthcare. Amit was one of the founding donors of Ashoka University and has funded an upcoming children’s hospital in Mumbai. — PTI