Loading summary
Transcript13 lines
- [00:00]
A
Thank you all very much for coming. And we're celebrating the launch of this book revealing Indian philanthropy. And we have a special guest on my left, Mrs. Rajastri Birla. And it's a great privilege for us to have you with us, ma'. Am. Thank you very much for coming. And then we have Ruth Katamuri on the left, this is Birla. And next to Ruth we have Gautam Kumar. And then next to Gautam we have Duleep Chanana. Gautam will also be doing some introductions. So I won't dwell on their very distinguished roles in life. My job is to chair. I'm Nick Stern. I'm the IG Patel professor at Of Economics and Government at the lse. Now, I just wanted to begin by expressing. I'm just the chair, but I wanted to express my admiration for the book, since this is the launch and I found it a very inspiring book. I think the idea of the book was such a good one to ask people who were giving or organising, giving their own ideas, what was in their mind, what was motivating them that was such a good idea. And reading it, we find real inspiration from the example, from the modesty and from the humanity. And after all, philanthropy is driven by an understanding of our common humanity. And it's an understanding of our common humanity that drives everything that is good and worth having. Let me comment just on one or two bits of substance, because I thought it was such an inspiring book. It's full of ideas and if I may, I just take two papers which I found particularly interesting. One is yours, ma'. Am. And when you come to the lse, you have your work discussed. That's part of the tradition and the ideas. In just a few short pages, you raised the idea of what the role for private philanthropy should be in a world where, or a country where the government claims that it has a duty to the poorer people and claims to be discharging that duty. We have a similar question in our own country, in the uk, the role of trusteeship. What are we here for? What do we owe the people who come after us as well as the people who are with us? You raise the idea of sustainable livelihoods, sustainable not just in the environmental sense, which is very important, but sustainable also in the sense of helping people in ways which allow them to take opportunities and look after their own income in the future. You raise the idea of corporate social responsibility and how that should not be interpreted in a very narrow way. And you have a lovely phrase in there, which I hope you will allow the rest of us to use which is giving is living. I've not seen that before, I confess. And I thought that was such a beautiful phrase. Thank you very much. Let me just one quote all that in about three pages. Richness of concept. The density of richness of concept.
- [03:32]
B
Quite phenomenal.
- [03:33]
A
So thank you very much for that. And let me give just one other example from a friend of mine from South India, Rohini Nilikhani, where she points to the importance of philanthropy in finding examples which other people can then scale up. And that again is a very important contribution. So the examples I've given of richness of concept cover about five pages of this book. So you can imagine how exciting and inspirational it is. So wonderful idea, very well executed. So it's a real pleasure to have the launch here at the London School of Economics. Now I have one embarrassing announcement to make. I have a very long standing commitment which requires me to leave at 7 o' clock and I will hand over to my friend and colleague Ruth when I leave. But by that time I hope everything will be going so well you won't even notice me slip out. So we will be calling on all those on the platform. So it's a great pleasure for me to ask Gautam Kumar to make some introductions on behalf of UBS crucial central sponsor of this work and participant in this work. Thank you very much. Gat.
- [04:55]
C
Thanks Nick.
- [04:56]
B
Thanks very much. I want to start by welcoming Mrs. Billa. Thank you very much ma'.
- [05:01]
A
Am.
- [05:01]
B
Thank you for coming today. I know your trip to us was cancelled and you have come specially for this event. Thank you and thank you very much for contributing to this book. I also want to welcome you all to this event this evening. At the same time, I want to thank London School of Economics for being a partner with us in writing and editing this book which is on Indian philanthropy. Just to show you, the book looks like this. It is a small book but it maintains and it covers a lot of things as far as philanthropy is concerned and how UBS and LSE have tied up together on this important subject. Emerging markets, as you all know, including Asia, have been and and will be a key area of growth for the world economy. And UBS also has a key focus as far as these two giants economies are concerned, especially in India. We also have a rich presence there in the form of investment banking. We've been there for many years and we also started our wealth management business there a few years back. At ubs we don't only cover India, but we also Cover the diaspora very broadly. Some of you know that there are more than 24 million non resident Indians globally and they have wealth of more than a trillion dollars. And that's a diaspora which we broadly cover. We also have a long standing presence in divination banking which has a key focus as far as India is concerned. And we've done very high reputed transactions over the last many years. As far as philanthropy is concerned, as these individuals and families, they become wealthy, they also want to use some of that wealth for social good. And as a wealth manager, it is our responsibility to know what our clients want to do with this wealth. It is for this reason that we have spent a lot of time and money in building this broadest industry expertise on this topic, which is philanthropy. We set up our philanthropy services in 2004 and were one of the earliest banks to do so. Today I think we have the largest team dedicated to the subject with over 30 specialists across many booking centers like London, Zurich, Singapore, Hong Kong and US. And the whole idea is that we can cover and meet the clients needs as far as philanthropy is concerned. We also started in 2010 and 2011 we actually did a major study on family philanthropy in Asia. And we conducted with the INSEAD Business School the study and it covered almost 10 countries. As a result we have also launched the UBS Optimum Foundation, Optimus foundation in Hong Kong, which helps clients find and donate to high potential projects. The roots of this book are in that study. During that effort, India emerged as a key leader in the region and we were able to interview more individuals and philanthropists from India than for the rest of the region combined. Indians generally assume that the country has a long tradition of philanthropy and as a country becomes wealthier and to a leading economy, it should not be a surprise if it also becomes a leader in philanthropy. There's a recent study which was done where they took out the list of richest nations and out of the BRIC economies it's only China which is which stands in the top 15 richest economies. By 2020 it is envisaged that both India and Russia would come in this list and India would be ranked as number 9th and Russia being number 11th. That's not a UBS study, that's a market study. I'm just quoting. Luckily for us, the country has a lot of role models drawn and we are privileged to have one of the oldest leading philanthropic families represented here by Mrs. Billah. While we know a lot about philanthropy in the western world, we know very little what is going on in India. And it is for this reason that we have supported this book. We also want our clients and other philanthropists find their examples and role models they can use in their own work. This book, I think has taken us for a year to put together and it is only possible because of India's philanthropists like Mrs. Billah, who are open to talk about their work and help others in the process. We hope you enjoy the book and the evening. Thank you very much.
- [09:49]
A
Thank you. Thank you very much, Gautam. And now I'd like to ask Dr. Ruth Katamuri, also friend and colleague. And Ruth is the co director of the Asia Research center and of the India Observatory. And we've worked very closely together on India for a number of years. Ruth, one of the editors of this book. Ruth, could you say a few words please?
- [10:18]
D
Thanks, Nick. Again, because we're informal, we keep the discussion informal. It's just we've had lots of events going on. So thank you all for coming. History was not among my favorite subjects in school. However, I enjoy reading it for pleasure and there's so much we learn from it. So I'm going to briefly start with a little bit of Indian history. Lothal, which I'm sure some of you would be familiar with, was a very well developed city in 2400 BC during the Harappan civilization. And archaeological excavations show that it was a very wealthy trading town which made pottery, jewelry and metal items and also had a very flourishing tradition, trade with the West. The growth of human pursuits were deterred by natural disasters such as floods and resulted in resource limitations and an increase in poorer classes. And literature describes that there was a major flood in 1900 B.C. which destroyed Lothal as there'd be no Social Security measures to absorb the shocks and any survivors migrated inland. And it suggested that the this is what initiated the responsibility to meet the needs of the poor in the region. Then moving forward to Emperor Chandragupta Maurya he was during the period 340 to 298 BC he had a strong commitment to the welfare of his people. As his advisor Kautilya wrote in Arthashastra, which is his treaty on economic policy, statecraft and military strategy. And I quote, in the happiness of his subjects lies the king's happiness in their welfare. His welfare, whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects he shall consider as good. Chandragupta's Grandson Ashoka, during 2004-32 BC was known to be a philanthropic administrator serving the needs of his people. And he built Universities and promoted equality of race, religion and politics. Then we fast forward to more recent times and many of us are familiar with families such as the Birlas and Tatas who have been involved in nation building in the country for over a century. Mrs. Rajshri Birlai will speak about the work of the. I will briefly refer to the work of the Tatas. 66% of the Tata group is held in their trust. They've been involved in setting up educational institutions for over 100 years both nationally and internationally. The Indian Institute of Science, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Terry are among the institutions of the Tata setup. The Siratan Tata department was set up at the LS in 1912 for research into poverty and its alleviation. Clement Attlee was appointed as a lecturer in this department in 1930. He then went on to become the Prime Minister of Britain. India was coincidentally granted independence during Attlee's premiership. This department at the LSE has now developed to become the Department of Social Policy which is one of the largest departments at the lse. And we have one of the professors from the department here today. The top has continued to support various programs at the LSE in recent years. They've also developed programs at Cornell and Harvard. In addition to education, they're involved in a whole range of other philanthropic activities to support communities in India through health initiative, art, sports and environmental sustainability activities. My own culture and social exposure while growing up in India, as well as my own personal inspiration from the Bible has been the evidence and practice of philanthropy in the community through giving of one's time, talent and money. With this backdrop, when a couple of years ago I saw questions being raised about a presumed lack of philanthropy in India, I was picked enough to want to write a book. Circumstances and mutual interests came together to partner with UBS just over a year ago and we have enjoyed bringing this book to fruition. We're grateful to Mrs. Birla and other contributors for sharing their valuable experiences with us which enriches this book with regard to the future. India's central role for provision of welfare and Social Security is expanding. So that's one channel through which more would be done to meet the needs of the poor and the needy. At the same time, I believe there is great potential and opportunity for philanthropy to continue to play a leading role in India's development through international as well as private and public partnerships.
- [15:25]
A
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ruth. And now we have a second of the editors of this book, Dweep Chanana from UBS and Dweep, if you could explain your role in ubs, which looks particularly interesting and also what you want to say about the book. Thank you, Duane.
- [15:51]
C
Thank you. So, just for background, I'm one of the co editors, one of two from ubs, and we work in a team that's focused on philanthropy, as Gautam mentioned, one of 30. And it's our role essentially to look at what is going on in the the sector in different parts of the world as a fund, sort of as a basis for being able to then go out and advise people and advise clients. To give you a sort of a context into how this project came about at ubs. We started, we did a study on philanthropy with the insead Business School 2, three years ago, which again, Gotham referred to. And we talked to a lot of people around the country. And there were two people again, me and Matthieu Contagre. Who's the. Who's my colleague and co editor, Mathieu Mathias. Well, a French national, brought up in England, so he knows European philanthropy very, very well. And we spoke to people across Asia, across India. And what we found interesting was that people would recognize the Birla family, they would recognize the Tata family, but if you ask them who is your role model, they would talk about Rockefeller and Carnegie, and that was including Indians. So this didn't sit very well with us. For me, it was sort of, I know, a little bit. But through that process of interviews, I was surprised myself at how broad the tradition was and how far back it went. It went certainly much further back than I was aware of. And I think Mathia, if I may speak for you, what I think he found interesting was that it was basically comparable to European philanthropy, and yet nobody knew about it. So that was really the trigger for us was to say there's a story here worth telling. And that story comes down to essentially three points, which is what you'll find in the book. The first is that there's a very long and a very rich tradition, as in, again, as somebody who grew up in Delhi, I thought I knew what philanthropic institutions in India were. You know about Bits Pilani, you know about the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. I didn't know that a lot of the colleges in Delhi were supported by charity, that the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad or the National Physical Laboratory were essentially supported by philanthropy, or that, you know, a lot of urban infrastructure in Bombay wouldn't exist if it weren't for philanthropy. So that's the first thing is it's a much broader and a much deeper tradition than one generally gives it credit for. The second is really that families have been sort of a pillar, and families that are running businesses have been a very sort of key pillar of philanthropy in the country. And they continue to be. Again, I think we'll hear more about Birla Family and how that tradition has been sort of modernized. But again, there are a number of family businesses that are now again bringing in a lot of professionalism into the sector. I was myself surprised to learn, for instance, that the Aditya Birla center actually runs programs for the government of India because the government thinks they can run them better than the government itself can. And you see this increasingly that foundations set up by businesses, another example is the Dr. Eddie's foundation, are actually serving to run government services because the government either cannot or feels can't do as good as a job as some of these foundations can. So these family businesses, and businesses in general are bringing a lot of professionalism into the sector. And the third element of that is really, again, there's also a generational element to this. A number of families, a number of businesses are seeing a generational shift. And everybody you speak to says the newer generation is sort of bringing in a very different dynamism to the sector. The emphasis on modernity, on professionalization, isn't just coming from businesses becoming professional, but entrepreneurs who don't have a background or a sort of a tradition of family wealth, or executives who have essentially made themselves coming up and saying, yes, I have been the beneficiary of a certain social process, and I believe it is time that I did something similar for society. And you see these executives and entrepreneurs and young business owners coming in with essentially no infrastructure of support that a company may be able to provide, provide and doing philanthropy in very different ways that can compare in many ways to what's happening in the US and in the uk Essentially, it breaks boils down to those three things. If there are three messages to be given out of the book is there's a very long tradition, that tradition's being sort of revived, in a sense, and it's building on the shoulders of giants, so to say. And as we move away from families and businesses being the only source of wealth, there's going to be a very different sort of landscape of philanthropy in the nonprofit sector in the next five, 10, 15 years. Sort of close with that. But it's a very exciting place to be and probably a good time to look at this, because there is, as Ruth was mentioning, a clear need and a debate going on on what philanthropy is all about and what is the role of the government and business.
- [22:29]
A
Thank you. Thank you very much. Dweeb. I feel at this point transparency demands that I recognize that my own chair that I occupy here at the LSE was a result of philanthropy in the name of the wonderful IG Patel, who was Director of the LSE and head of the Reserve bank of India. And the chair was endowed by the RBI and the sbi. And we have represented the SBI here with us today. Now we have keynote score. Our main speaker this evening is chairperson of the Aditya Birla center for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, wife of the late Aditya Vikram Billa. And the Aditya Billa Group, I think, as everybody here will know, is one of India's largest conglomerates. It has a very, very long history back into the 19th century, one of the great entrepreneurial houses, one of the sources of wealth and driving force of Indian development. And of course, as we all know very well, a leading mover and creator in philanthropy. So it's a great pleasure, ma', am, to have you with us this evening as our keynote speaker. I've already recommended your chapter in the book and I'm sure everybody who hasn't already read it will read it very soon. And we're very grateful to you for coming and thank you so much for sharing your ideas with us today. Thank you.
- [24:31]
E
Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, Mr. Gautam Kumar, Dr. Ruth, Mr. Matthew Cantigrill, Mr. Dhyanna and distinguished guests. First of all, let me compliment the Indian Observatory at LSE and UBS for bringing out this excellent publication on Indian philanthropy. It is indeed a forward step in showcasing Indian philosophy and social engagement. I'm sure there will be a lot of takes for all practitioners of philanthropy, corporates, academia and society as well. In the recent past, much has been written on the generosity of Several large hearted CEOs and others in the West. In India, taking care of the underprivileged and sharing personal wealth is enshrined in our scriptures. So philanthropists by and large would not speak about the generosity or the good deeds as these were personal issues. But with the changing times and more to serve as examples of doing one's duty in life, some philanthropists have been highlighting the causes they support. Again, this is still done in a highly subtler manner. Consequently, not much of the philanthropic work undertaken by individuals is in the public domain. For instance, the tremendous amount of involvement of the Birla family with the marginalized sections of society was never in limelight by design. My grandfather in law, Mr. G.D. birla was reckoned to be among the greatest philanthropists and worked very closely with Mahatma Gandhi. He felt very deeply that he should use his wealth to assist Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for the country's freedom. He was also greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy. Trusteeship. This entails that part of the profit generated by business must be plowed back for the larger good of society. Even today, this legacy of trusteeship espoused by Mr. G.D. birla is being carried forth by the Birla family. His commitment to lift the poor out of poverty in as many ways as possible remains one of his greatest legacies and continues to be an inspiration that motivates all of us. Every arm of the family is engaged in meaningful welfare driven activities that make a qualitative difference to the lives of the poor. My husband Aditi Ji, my son Kumar, Mangalam Nija, my daughter in law and I also look upon working for the underprivileged as our duty. My grandchildren have been cast in the same mold and in my views, the spirit of giving and caring is an uplifting and touching experience. This book, by focusing on philanthropy in India, highlights how there is an almost similar large heartedness and generosity practiced by many Indians, just as we find in the West. Having said that, I feel the need for philanthropy is greater today than ever before. I believe that the history of philanthropic giving should be seen in the context of our country's macroeconomic factors. In India, almost one third of its population lives below the poverty line. People in India do not have any adequate form of Social Security unlike Western and European countries. So therefore it is important for the affluent people to engage in philanthropy to compare with what people like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, David Sansbury is not justified. I recently read Bain's Philanthropy report. It reveals that India's rich have increased the contributions from 2.3% of household income in 2010 to 3.1% in 2011. Bain's research also points out that majority of donors indicated that they intend to increase their donations in the coming years. In India there are well known philanthropists like the Tatas, the Birlas, the Premdis, the Godridges, the Bajajs, the Reddies and many others. But at the same time there are also people from upper income and middle income groups who are also giving a part of their wealth to serve the needs of the underprivileged, particularly in the field of education and healthcare. In my opinion, these donors are very significant to the friends how we've got. And in most instances they are the ones who set the family's philanthropic vision. Of course there are a lot of challenges. As you are aware, India's economic growth rate of 9% two years ago has gone down, though we expect it to improve very soon. So you have two challenges. The first is that of resource constraints. And above this is the challenge of increased need of the marginalized. I personally believe that there should be more accountability and better communications between the beneficiaries, the NGOs and the philanthropists. This is necessary to ensure that much more is accomplished out of the monies given. A professional and institutionalized approach is increasingly becoming a characteristic of the Indian philanthropic scenario. This always will because when philanthropists see successful outcomes, it helps foster a positive climate for giving In India. I feel it is very important to have performance assessment metrics that establishes the philanthropic impact. Presently, the we can categorize three kinds of philanthropists. First category being those who have been giving over generations. Second category being those who contribute for personal, emotional or religious reasons. And the third category being those who commit funds for bringing in qualitative differences to the lives of the underprivileged in order to bring in systemic change. Furthermore, the Indian government's increasing focus on inclusive growth and a proposed 2% spend of net profit on corporate social responsibility has added a new dimension to the act of giving. A little aside, but it is contextual, so let me share it with you. Very recently, the FIKI Ladies Group Study Group had invited me to speak on philanthropy and CSR in Indian context. In the Q and A session, they asked me, what is Allah's vision for India? And I said to them, it's very simple. A vision which should enthuse all of us. My dream is an India free from poverty. An India of inclusive growth. An India where every person realizes his or her optimal potential. An India where every human being lives a life of dignity. An India that can hold a head high in the hegemony of nations. I feel that this is an aspiration which all of us here harbor in our heart and will become even more motivating as we read this wonderful book. I believe each of these contributors, along with thousands of others, are working to best leverage philanthropy so as to contribute significantly towards building a stronger nation. Thank you. It was a privilege being with all of you.