Billionaire Vedanta Resources founder Anil Agarwal has decided to donate the majority of his fortune to charity after meeting fellow billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
The 62-year-old Agarwal owns 70 percent of the London-based mining and energy company on the London exchange, according to Bloomberg, and plans to give away 75 percent of his $3.3 billion personal fortune “for the greater good of society.”
“What we earn must be returned for the greater good of society,” the Vedanta Resources chairman said at a Thursday event celebrating the company’s tenth year on the London exchange. “Life is not only about wealth.”
Agarwal said he made the decision after speaking with Gates and his wife Melinda about their philanthropic endeavors in Seattle last summer. Agarwal will be the second Indian to make a major donation as part of Gates’ and investor Warren Buffet’s Giving Pledge program, which petitions the world’s richest people to giving away significant portions of their fortunes to charity.
Bill Gates is still the world’s richest person with a fortune valued at $84.7 billion.