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Zerodha’s Kamath brothers vow 25% of wealth to philanthropy
Summary
Nikhil Kamath has launched Young India Philanthropic Pledge (YIPP) where signatories all under 45 years of age would be pledging 25% of their wealth with a minimum spend of ₹1 crore per year.
Zerodha co-founders Nithin and Nikhil Kamath on Thursday announced that they have pledged a quarter of their wealth to philanthropy, joining several other billionaires worldwide who have taken similar steps.
According to the IIFL Hurun Rich List 2021, the Kamath brothers have a combined net worth of around ₹37,000 crore (USD 4.96 billion).
The Forbes India rich list, however, places their net worth significantly lower at $2.6 billion collectively (about ₹19,327 crore).
The pledge, which will be effective throughout their lifetimes, is in addition to the $100 million they pledged to the Rainmatter Foundation to tackle climate change.
In the past decade, several billionaires have pledged a portion of their wealth to charitable causes. In 2010, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet created the ‘Giving Pledge’, a commitment through which wealthy individuals can pledge a majority of their wealth to charity.
According to its website, Giving Pledge includes more than 200 of the world’s wealthiest individuals, couples and families, ranging in age from their 30s to their 90s. Globally, they represent 27 countries.
“Philanthropy is an extension of the investments I make. While the measure for evaluating investments in stocks is to make greater gains, philanthropy is an extension of the same sentiment-the difference in philanthropy is that your measure is where you make the greatest impact," Nikhil Kamath said in a statement to Mint.
“I feel there is a desire for young entrepreneurs to undertake more philanthropic initiatives; however, with not many seamless avenues to do so in a sustained manner, there is paralysis on that front. With an objective to mitigate that, YIPP (Young India Philanthropic Pledge) was launched where signatories all under 45 years of age would be pledging 25% of their wealth with a minimum spend of ₹1 crore per year. I am also pledging 25% of my wealth to this cause," he said.
“The wealth would be distributed for building a think-tank for strategic intervention and to support grassroots efforts. It would go towards poverty alleviation, refugee aid, disaster relief, women and girls’ empowerment, medical research, criminal justice reform, environmental sustainability, art and culture, and global health. The pledge will not include any political or religious causes, and there will be a detailed reporting of the financial spend at the end of every year," he added.
Current members and advisers to YIPP include a mix of unicorn co-founders, entrepreneurs and social workers, including Sujeet Kumar, co-founder of Udaan; Prashanth Prakash, partner at Accel; Ravindran Pai, managing director of Century Real Estate Holdings; Amitabh Shah, founder of Yuva Unstoppable; and Anil Shetty, an independent investment banker and social worker. The current advisers are Prashant Prakash and Jamil Khatri, and Ankit Bhandari, who wil
