India's Wealthy Are Turning Philanthropy Into a Portfolio

There's a real shift happening in India's philanthropy landscape. Giving used to be occasional, symbolic, driven by goodwill. Today, more high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals treat philanthropy with the seriousness of wealth management — strategy, discipline, long-term thinking. The question isn't "where should I give," but "what change will this create?"

The numbers back it up: in 2018, only two Indians gave away more than Rs.100 crore a year. By 2025, that number was 18. The EdelGive-Hurun Philanthropy List, tracking donors giving over Rs.5 crore annually, grew from 27 names in 2017 to 192 in FY2025.

EdelGive CEO Ms. Naghma Mulla unpacked why in a recent conversation with Business Standard. She calls it "portfolio construction" rather than cheque-writing — something we've watched happen inside our own GROW Fund, where 37 funders pooled capital during the pandemic, some contributing as little as $100,000, all treated as equal partners. It shows in what donors fund too: backend costs like salaries and technology, once the hardest expenses to raise, are now seen as what lets an organisation actually deliver.

A couple of numbers surprised us: donors worth Rs.200-1,000 crore give away roughly 0.7% of their net worth, versus 0.1% among UHNI billionaires. And self-made philanthropists, not old money, are the fastest-growing group — up from 65 to 101 in two years, as art, culture, and climate giving all posted triple-digit growth in FY25.

What we keep returning to is Ms. Mulla's closing question: not "how much should we give," but how that capital compounds, socially, over time.

Read the full interview on Business Standard: https://www.business-standard.com/finance/personal-finance/how-india-s-rich-are-now-treating-philanthropy-like-wealth-management-126051200804_1.html