[Reader-list] Rediff Article: 'India's wealthiest are the least generous'

[Patrice Riemens]

>
>
> Excerpts from http://z.pe/4ZPQ -
>
> This is the great Indian
> paradox. The country's economy is booming, with the number of
> millionaires and billionaires rising by the day. According to a
> research by Bain & Co, there are over 115,000 high-networth
> individuals in India.
>

As as I am aware of, the traditionally wealthy Indians (aka 'old money')
are relatively generous (and quite discreet about it). the much more
numerous 'new rich' are, temporarily one my hope, a different breed: "Many
people who became rich recently are not willing to part with their
wealth." Also the argument as per which "many believe that the funding
networks are not professionally managed and their donations may be
misappropriated." is not entirely devoid of merit. The obvious answer is:
start your own charity, a la Soros, or Gates (with the [+]ses and [-]ses
this entails. So it's probably a question of times. Bill Gates was
famously accused, less than 10 years ago, to sit on his wealth like a
cockerel on a heap of manure, now he runs one of the world's largest
charity. (Is it a good one?  Well, let's keep it at 'better that than
nothing' ...)

There is an even better way of make wealth work for the destitute eople:
transfer ownership of your company to a charity (the 'Bernard van Leer'
model, a very lean and mean multinational you've probably never heard of -
that's why). Is it true that Tata (no small fish) is 70% charity-owned?

Cheerio, p+3D!