Rs 5k cr: Torrent’s Mehtas join philanthropy club
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Billionaire brothers Sudhir and Samir Mehta pledged to donate Rs 5,000 crore to a slew of social causes on their father and Torrent Group founder’s birth centenary on Sunday.

The Mehtas join the ranks of other billionaires who have committed large parts of their wealth for philanthropy. “The contribution will be over and above the statutory CSR contributions of the Torrent Group companies,” a release from the pharmaceutical-to-power enterprise said.

The donation will be managed by the UNM Foundation for bolstering healthcare, education, ecology and arts. The Mehtas draw a chunk of their wealth from Torrent Pharma, the flagship of the $5-billion group.

They will start donating Rs. 5,000 crore (nearly $600 million) to the UNM Foundation from April 1 to five years, the release said. Their father Uttambhai Nathalal Mehta (UNM) founded the group in 1959, the year when Bajaj Auto obtained license from the Indian govt to manufacture two and three wheelers and when India saw the launch of broadcaster Doordarshan (a glimpse of all afar).


UNM’s journey from being a medical representative for Swiss pharma giant Sandoz to laying the foundation of the Torrent Group is inspiring. Born in a poor family, he lost his mother at the age of two. He weathered many health challenges such as being diagnosed with mental health issues at the age of 39 due to the side effects of a medicine that was prescribed to him, and being diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer at the age of 53, and the onset of cardiac problems ultimately leading to a bypass surgery at the age of 62 years. UNM had also failed in his first attempt at setting up a business and had to return to his village for many years. He then succeeded in his second attempt, at the advanced age of 48 years, in setting up a pharma business. Because of his own tryst with psychiatric and cardiac health issues, his initial efforts were focused around making medicines for psychiatric and cardiac ailments, for which medicines were not easily available in India. He set up the UNM Foundation during the later part of his life to support causes close to his heart.

 

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