Ronnie Screwvala keen to change how wealthy Indians give back to society

UpGrad founder Ronnie Screwvala

Seasoned entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala has a new mission. He wants wealthy Indians to give away more for philanthropic activities. And he wants them to do it in a structured manner so that the impact on society can be measured.

For this, Screwvala is doing a public fundraise of Rs 10 crore through the social stock exchange (SSE), a platform to help non-profit organisations (NPO) and for-profit social enterprises to access the capital market for funds.

India's capital markets regulator came out with a framework for this route of giving away in 2021. Currently, BSE and the NSE — India's premier bourses — operate SSEs.

Just like there are roadshows done ahead of an initial public offer, he intends to do a campaign to attract high-profile Indians from the industry, sports and entertainment to the fundraiser. "Giving back in India is is still in its early stages and most people are looking for credibility," he said.

Swades Foundation, a non-profit run by Screwvala and his wife, has filed the draft papers with the NSE's SSE to raise the money through zero-coupon, zero-principal bonds for a project that aims to aid rural communities with livestock rearing, safe sanitation and youth education.

It operates in Raigad and Nashik districts of Maharashtra and has had a reach of over 1.1 million individuals over the last 10 years, with an outlay of Rs 500 crore for rural deployment.

“I wanted to evangelise the SSE, more than actually to meet the target of Rs 10 crore. We can do it ourselves but I want to do it outside... The objective is to support this platform. We need to keep the buoyancy... One or two South American countries did this, but it didn't last too long. So, it's very important that we make this last,” said Screwvala.

"You have to file it like an issue. You have to give your last three years' accounts. You have to talk about your proceeds, where the proceeds are going to go. The impact is going to be tracked on a project-to-project basis," he said.

Screwvala made his fortune as the founder of media and entertainment conglomerate UTV which was ultimately sold to Disney at a valuation of over a billion dollars more than a decade back. In 2015, he started an online education platform called Upgrad which was valued at around $2.5 billion in its last funding round. He has also invested in startups like Zivame and Shopclues through Unilazer Ventures, his family office.

Now, the Mumbai-based entrepreneur has a thesis about scaling up philanthropy. According to him, 200 million of India’s mammoth 1.4 billion population have the means to help others in society. While 150 million of that group of people could do that by volunteering or helping in kind, there are 50 million who can structurally give back through philanthropy.

Although a few of India’s wealthiest industrialists like Wipro founder Azim Premji and HCL founder Shiv Nadar are widely known for giving away significant parts of their fortunes for social good, the vast majority of ultra-rich Indians have chosen to be more conservative in their philanthropy.

According to the Indian Philanthropy Report 2024 by management consulting firm Bain, Indians who boast a net worth of more than Rs 1,000 crore (categorised as ultra high net worth individuals) tend to restrict their giving away about 0.1 percent of their wealth. In comparison, this number ranges between 1.2 percent to 2.5 percent in the US.

“In India, the wealthy can and should give away a lot more… But only recently Indians have become really wealthy. It takes about two generations of Rockefellers and the Redstones and the Carnegies for giving to become institutionalised,” said Screwvala.

He also stressed that educational and religious institutions corner about 90 percent of the philanthropy in the West, rather than the money being deployed directly for the well-being of the underprivileged.

“Harvard gets more than slum dwellers. Nothing wrong with it. It's your wealth and you can do whatever you want with it. And, $25 million going to Harvard is still funding research that can cure cancer,” said Screwvala.

“Frankly, I don't think education institutions need the kind of money they get because then they put it back in the market. And they've got 40-people teams doing treasury management for the top 10 education institutions in the US,” he added.