Back to resources

Infosys co-founder and non-executive chairman of the tech giant Infosys Nandan Nilekani and wife Rohini just pledged half of their wealth to charity

Strategic Philanthropy | Nov 21, 2017

That’s 50 per cent of $1.7 billion.
Infosys co-founder and non-executive chairman of the tech giant, Nandan Nilekani, signed the Giving Pledge with his wife, Rohini. The couple committed to giving away 50 per cent of their total wealth – which Forbes estimates to be ₹110 lakh crore ($1.7 billion) – over the weekend. Bill and Melinda Gates, who founded the pledge along with Warren Buffett in 2010, were also present at the event. The Nilekanis’ signing on makes them the fourth (and fifth) Indians to be amongst 171 unimaginably wealthy signatories from around the world, who have pledged at least half of their net worth to philanthropic causes.

View PDF

More like this

Strategic Philanthropy

Rohini Nilekani: On my journey as a philanthropist

This is an edited version of a speech delivered by Rohini Nilekani to a closed door gathering of Asian philanthropists. Most of us in this room are on a journey of discovery as philanthropists. We recognize that we have been lucky, we are fortunate to have wealth way beyond our needs. We want to use […]
Nov 22, 2019 | Speech

Strategic Philanthropy

Building the Indian philanthropic sector - what can we learn? | India Conference at Harvard 2021

This is an edited version of Rohini Nilekani’s conversation with Mona Sinha, co-founder of Raising Change, at the Harvard India Conference 2021. In my work over the last three decades, I’ve tried to put together a theory of change and what I have realised and tried to communicate is that in the continuum of society, […]
Feb 21, 2021 |

Strategic Philanthropy

Keeping the Hope Unbroken

It was wonderful to read the thoughtful, frank reflections of so many younger philanthropists on the future of philanthropy. What struck me the most was that almost everyone acknowledged the need to shift and broaden the centres of power, both within philanthropy and in society. It is a great irony that big philanthropy is made […]
Sep 1, 2021 |

COVID-19  |  Strategic Philanthropy

Taking Risks in the Face of a Pandemic

2020 has been a sobering year for the philanthropy sector, not just in India, but globally. We have witnessed rising inequality even in these past 6 months, with a few of the rich getting even richer while hundreds of millions of people fell behind in the ensuing economic slowdown. There are some who had just […]
Dec 26, 2020 |