In a rapidly evolving world, how people give, why they give and where they direct their charitable efforts seems to be undergoing a profound transformation. There seems to be a generational shift, where the younger generation thinks about society very differently from the previous generation and they may be comparatively less selfish. What does this look like? What is the culture of giving in India?
According to Amit Chandra, Managing Director of Bain Capital India, “In society, I think there will always be competing needs for capital. Those competing needs will arise from either what provides an individual personal satisfaction or what a person believes they need, because society puts a value on who they are. So, when it comes to wealth, the kind of wealth they have, the size of their house, what kind of car they have, whether they have a private plane or additional houses, unfortunately, these become a treadmill of never-ending requirements. I say treadmill, because when one walks on it, it keeps expanding to include more things”.
Chandra remarks, “I think what it takes to change is that people would change, if they either believe society puts a premium on it or if they get the personal satisfaction of doing something… At some point, we need society to start thinking that if one has wealth, then their responsibility is to contribute towards building society… I think the moment people start feeling, for the lack of a better word, ‘judged’ that way, I think people will automatically start making those choices”.
“One thing that’s interesting is that I’m seeing a generational shift, where the younger generation, and I don’t know why it’s the case, thinks about society very differently from my generation and they’re definitely less selfish than we were. I think that gives me hope. Our generation did the most damage to, for example, the environment than probably any other generation, if you look at how much destruction has taken place, in terms of flora and fauna”, opines Chandra.
Chandra declares, “Entrepreneurs, who have, basically, made a reasonable amount of wealth are giving away disproportionate parts of their wealth and that’s definitely a mega-trend… The interesting thing is that some entrepreneurs are really young folks, but there are, also, older guys, typically in the 40-50 age bracket”.
What about from a policy perspective?
“Tax incentives are a very sensitive issue. The government, in general, seems to be moving towards taking away tax incentives as a way of spurring giving. One thing I believe is worth thinking about is how we treat the giving of shares to a charitable structure… Currently, I think wealth can be given away, but you have to sell it within a very short period of time. I think what you need is a much longer calibrated disposal period”, quips Chandra.
Watch the entire interaction here:
