Bharti family to pledge Rs 7,000 crore to philanthropy

The Bharti family, led by Sunil Bharti Mittal, on Thursday pledged a part of their personal wealth amounting to Rs 7,000 crore for philanthropic purposes.

The Family has decided to pledge 10% of their wealth, including 3% of their stake in group flagship Bharti Airtel, towards supporting the activities of Bharti Foundation, the Group's philanthropic arm, one of the few professionally managed philanthropic bodies in India, the group said in a statement.

With this commitment, the Bharti Family envisions to significantly step up the scope and reach of Bharti Foundation's activities, and further enable the Foundation to develop and execute innovative development models to support the aspirations of India's underprivileged including students of Satya Bharti Schools.

Set up in the year 2000, Bharti Foundation has grown in scale and stature, and evolved well beyond customary cheque book philanthropy to design and implement innovative development models, particularly in the area of education. Led by a full time CEO and COO, the Foundation's team of over 200 highly motivated professionals and approximately 8,000 teachers work across multiple programmes in the areas of education of about 240,000 underprivileged children in rural India.

Bharti Foundation has also supported the creation of Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology & Management at IIT Delhi, Bharti Centre for Communication at IIT Mumbai and Bharti Institute of Public Policy at ISB Mohali. The Foundation has also instituted a number of scholarship programmes, the prominent being scholarship for Indian students studying at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Announcing the commitment, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman, Bharti Enterprises and Chairman, Bharti Foundation, said, "Today is a major milestone in the journey of the Bharti Family. Being first generation entrepreneurs, we feel absolutely privileged that this nation gave us the opportunity to imagine and build world-class businesses. Bharti's DNA has always been about creating a deep positive impact on society through our businesses, and we are proud to have contributed to the India growth story."

Bharti Foundation also announced its plans to set up Satya Bharti University for Science and Technology to complement its existing programmes in the area of education. The University will have a strong focus on future technologies like AI, Robotics, AR/VR, IoT, in addition to offering degrees in Electrical & Electronics Engineering and Management. It will be a non-profit centre of excellence and will offer free education to a large number of deserving youth from economically weaker sections. It will also promote and fund advanced research with global linkages. It intends to add leading global industry partners, i.e. Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and SoftBank among others.