The list has grown consistently over the past seven years, from having just 27 individuals in 2016-17. However, the average size of donations made by this set has not been as consistent. The average donation was ₹86 crore in 2016-17, which rose to ₹107 crore and ₹140 crore in 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. In 2021-22, the figure fell to ₹52 crore, and has grown to ₹71 crore in 2022-23.

The 119 topmost philanthropists collectively donated ₹8,445 crore in 2022-23, up from ₹5,623 crore donated by those on the list a year ago. Donations were measured by the value of cash or cash equivalents pledged by those born and bred in India, regardless of their country of passport.

Shiv Nadar, the founder of HCL Technologies, emerged as the most generous philanthropist for the second straight year, donating ₹2,042 crore to charitable causes, up 76%. He was followed by Wipro’s Azim Premji ( ₹1,774 crore). The list had 25 new entrants, led by K. Dinesh, one of the seven co-founders of Infosys, who donated ₹47 crore.

Mukesh Ambani, chairperson of Reliance Industries and Asia’s richest man, was third at ₹376 crore. Several other well-known industrialists, including Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, the Bajaj family, Anil Agrawal, and Cyrus Poonawalla, were among the top donors on the list.

Wipro’s Azim Premji increased his contribution the most generously last fiscal, raising it by ₹1,290 crore since the previous year. Nadar’s donations were higher by ₹881 crore.

Premji’s philanthropic contributions have dropped sharply since 2020-21, when he made an exceptional donation of ₹7,807 crore to his two philanthropic trusts.

However, when it came to ₹5-crore-plus donations made in their individual capacity, the list had only 24 names. Nadar was still at the top spot, making ₹1,899 crore in donations personally, followed closely by Wipro’s Azim Premji, with ₹1,638 crore. Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Larsen & Toubro’s A.M. Naik, Mindtree’s Susmita and Subroto Bagchi, Zerodha’s Kamath brothers, and M.A. Yusuff Ali of the Lulu Group also donated more than ₹100 crore personally.

The most significant donations—of over ₹1,000 crore each—were directed towards education ( ₹1,547 crore) and arts, culture and heritage ( ₹1,345 crore). Nadar and his family were the biggest contributors in both these areas. The Kamath brothers, Nithin and Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha, were the biggest donors in environment and sustainability. They were also the youngest philanthropists on the list.

With 39 individuals out of 119, Mumbai is the philanthropy capital of India, followed by New Delhi (19) and Bengaluru (13).