Philanthropists

Warren Edward Buffett has led the American conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway since 1965, turning a struggling textile mill into one of the world’s largest companies. He is among the most closely studied investors in modern finance.

He has pledged to give away more than ninety-nine per cent of his fortune, chiefly to philanthropic foundations, and co-founded the Giving Pledge to encourage other donors to do the same.

Ratan Naval Tata led the Tata group, one of India’s largest business houses, as chairman from 1991 to 2012 and grew it into a global enterprise. Much of the group’s capital is held by charitable trusts.

His philanthropy has funded cancer hospitals, research institutes and clean-water programmes across India. He received the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.

Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft and led the software company through the decades that put personal computers on desks around the world.

Since stepping back from the company he has led the Gates Foundation, which works on malaria, polio, vaccines and poverty in the developing world. He has committed the bulk of his wealth to that work through the Giving Pledge.

Azim Hasham Premji transformed Wipro, his family’s cooking-oil business, into one of India’s leading information-technology companies across four decades as its chairman.

He has given most of his personal fortune to educating rural India through the Azim Premji Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic commitments in modern history. He received the Padma Vibhushan in 2011.

Shiv Nadar founded HCL in the mid-1970s as one of India’s first computer companies and built it into a global technology enterprise.

Through the Shiv Nadar Foundation he has funded schools, universities and museums across India, committing billions of dollars to education. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2008.