Sunil Bharti Mittal, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, has pledged a whopping Rs 7,000 crore for education from his family personal wealth. (Image: Reuters)

Sunil Bharti Mittal, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, has pledged a whopping Rs 7,000 crore for education from his family personal wealth. The 10% pledged amount by Sunil Mittal will go to Bharti group’s philanthropic arm Bharti Foundation, which will set up Satya Bharti University for Science and Technology with focus on future technologies like AI, Robotics, AR/VR, IoT.

Sunil Mittal, while announcing the pledge said, it as a work long due and felt fairly secured to give back to society. “The idea is to give back to society,” he said adding Satya Bharti University will be heavily teach based and focus on giving higher education to the underprivileged group and will be at par with universities like The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sunil Mittal’s family has decided to pledge 10% of their wealth, including 3% of their stake in group flagship Bharti Airtel, the company said in a statement.

“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,” Sunil Mittel said.

Recently, Infosys co-founder and tech billionaire Nandan Nilekani and his wife Rohini Nilekani joined ‘The Giving Pledge’, an elite network of the world’s wealthiest individuals committing half their wealth to philanthropy.

Signatories of the ‘Giving Pledge’ initiative commit to donating at least half of their wealth in their lifetime or through their Will. A few other Indians who have signed the Giving Pledge are Wipro chief Azim Premji, Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Sobha Developers’ PNC Menon.

Nandan Nilekani and wife Rohini Nilekani wrote on the pledge, “Wealth comes with a huge responsibility and is best deployed for the larger public interest.” The husband-wife duo’s net wealth is estimated to be around $1.7 billion. They have a history of being a part of other philanthropic journeys for over two decades. Nandan Nilekani has also helped to restructure his hostel campus in IIT Bombay. He has also helped to set up the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), whose main purpose is to solve urban challenges in India.