The pledge includes 3% of the family's stake in group flagship Airtel, towards supporting the activities of Bharti FoundationCorporate philanthropy is fast becoming popular among India's large business houses. Following Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani and his wife's decision to pledge half of their wealth to charity, the Bharti family, owner of businesses like Airtel headed by Sunil Mittal, has pledged 10% of its wealth worth or about Rs 7,000 crore towards philanthropy. The pledge includes 3% of the family's stake in group flagship Airtel, towards supporting the activities of Bharti Foundation, the group's philanthropic arm mainly in the areas of education. Set up in 2000, Bharti Foundation has grown in scale evolving beyond customary cheque book philanthropy to design and implement innovative development models in the area of education. In 2016, companies accounted for 15% of the total share of private philanthropy, down from 30% in 2011," the report released earlier mentions.

Source: dna November 24, 2017 01:52 UTC