One Chinese individual’s charity is double of what over 100 Indian philanthropists have donated in a year. China’s 'most generous' person Richard Liu Qiandong of JD contributed a whopping $2.05 billion, as per the Hurun China Philanthropy List 2022. In comparison, the cumulative contribution by India’s 119 philanthropists featured on Hurun India’s latest list stood at a little over $1 billion, a 60% rise from the previous year.

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China’s top four philanthropists donated nearly $5.5 billion in a year, while the share of India’s top four was around $540,000. India's highest contributor - HCL Founder Shiv Nadar & family donated over $245,000 in FY23. In 2022, the cut-off to enter China’s philanthropy list was $15 million. This is 25 times that of India's cut-off of around $600,000 (over Rs 5 crore).

Hurun India MD Anas Rahman Junaid is optimistic that the size of donations will increase over the next few years. "India is going through one of the biggest wealth creation stories in its history. We can expect a significant expansion in private donations,” he said.

As per Credit Suisse-UBS report by the bank’s ultra-high net worth division, India’s wealth per adult rose 2.8% in 2022 from the previous year to $16,500 even as large global economies like the United States & China lost wealth per adult. China’s wealth per adult fell about 2.2%.

While we compare the philanthropic contributions of the two countries, we must also understand that India’s GDP was a mere 18% of China’s GDP of $18.1 trillion in 2022, as per data from the International Monetary Fund.

The quantitative gaps may take time to narrow, but the Indian & Chinese philanthropists had one thing in common. For both, education was the most preferred cause for donations. Indians donated Rs 4 crore per day, while 66% of donations by Chinese individuals went towards education.