India's very own Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the iconic salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, has topped the list of the world's most generous individuals of the last century.
With donations worth $102.4 billion in his lifetime, Tata pipped Microsoft founder Bill Gates and American business magnate Warren Buffet to emerge as the globe's biggest givers of the last century in the list of the world's top-50 philanthropists prepared by leading research platform Hurun Report and grant-making organisation EdelGive Foundation.
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Gates and his now-estranged wife Melinda have donated $74.6 billion, Buffet $37.4 billion, legendary hedge fund manager George Soros $34.8 billion and American financier John D Rockefeller $26.8 billion in the last century, as per the list.
“Whilst American and European philanthropists may have dominated the thinking of philanthropy over the last century, Jamsetji Tata, founder of India's Tata Group, is the world's biggest philanthropist," Rupert Hoogewerf, the chairman and chief researcher at Hurun, said in a statement.
Widely regarded as the 'Father of the Indian Industry', Tata's ambitious endeavours and vision not only shaped the exceptional business conglomerate but also helped India earn her place in the league of industrialised nations. He had made his fortune trading cotton, tea, copper, brass and even opium.
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"Setting aside two-thirds of ownership to trusts engaged in doing good in various areas, including education and healthcare, has helped Tatas achieve the top spot in giving," said Hoogewerf, adding that Tata's giving started in 1892 itself.
Tata, who was born in 1839 into a Parsi family in a city in the western state of Gujarat (then part of British India), started his early career as a merchant, but he went on to change the business landscape of the country through his many ventures -- Tata Steel company being the notable among them. A globe-trekker, Tata was always fascinated by new inventions.
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