The Cycle of Wealth

In society, wealth earned from it needs to be ploughed back for a higher social return

Last Updated: Nov 29, 2013, 06:50 IST1 min

At Forbes India, many of our stories revolve around entrepreneurship, innovation and success—the end product of which is often the creation of wealth. But wealth is not merely an end product it is also the starting point for setting off a virtuous cycle of gain. The worst thing that can happen to wealth is for it to stagnate and atrophy in some bank in Cayman Islands or somewhere else. Philanthropists know this better than anyone else. This is why even while their businesses may be raking it in, they are constantly looking for ways to make their wealth do more than just generate a profit for themselves. It is often presumed that charity is done for the psychic benefits it brings, and for soothing guilty consciences about wealth. There may be some truth to that, but there is a deeper philosophical and systemic reason why philanthropy is moving centre stage: If you don’t use it, you lose it. In business, profits have to be ploughed back, and in society, wealth earned from it needs to be ploughed back for a higher social return. If you don’t have a great society, wealth turns quickly to ashes.

In this issue, we bring you our second instalment of the Forbes India Philanthropy Awards precisely to honour those who have realised this simple truth. Our awards have 10 categories, but this year our jury chose to recognise only nine of them. The 10th category, in their opinion, did not have someone who really merited an award. Our jury clearly does not take its job lightly.

An interesting thing we note in the philanthropy awards this year is that old money is as well represented as new money. The Nilekanis on our cover represent professionals who came into wealth through sheer hard work so do Amit Chandra of Bain Capital and the Wadhwanis of Symphony Group. But the Bajajs and Godrejs represent old money that has made philanthropy its calling card for decades.

The Forbes India Philanthropy Awards are thus a blend of the old and the new, the bold and the traditional. An eclectic mix, one would think.

Best,R JagannathanEditor-in-Chief, Forbes IndiaEmail: r.jagannathan@network18online.com Twitter id: @TheJaggi

First Published: Nov 29, 2013, 06:50

Forbes India Philanthropy Awards Nilekanis

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R Jagannathan