7 Indians feature in Forbes Asia's Heroes of Philanthropy list

Seven Indians have featured in Forbes Asia's ninth Heroes of Philanthropy list, highlighting most noteworthy contributions to philanthropy from 13 countries across Asia Pacific.

Of them, four are co-founders of Infosys, one of India's largest information technology (IT) services companies.

Kerala-born entrepreneur Sunny Varkey, who in June pledged about half of his $2.25 billion dollar fortune to charity as part of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet-led Giving Pledge initiative, tops the list of philanthropists in the region.

Dubai-based Varkey is the founder of GEMS Education, a chain of 70 private schools in 14 counties.

Infosys co-founders Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, Nandan Nilekani and S D Shibulal feature on the list for their individual contributions to the health and education sectors.

Another Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's son Rohan is on the list for donating a whopping $ 5.2 million to Harvard University Press for promoting ancient Indian literary classics. He represents his father N R Narayana Murthy as a philanthropist.

The other two Indian philanthropists are brothers Suresh Ramakrishnan and Mahesh Ramakrishnan, both London-based entrepreneurs and founders of Whitcomb & Shaftesbury Tailors on London's Saville Row.

The brothers donated $3 million for training of more than 4,000 people in tailoring across India. Beneficiaries include the 2004 tsunami victims and "ill-fated" women.

(PTI)