Philanthropy can make Indians care more about India: Bain Capital's Amit Chandra

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : Amit Chandra, partner and India chairman of private equity (PE) firm Bain Capital, began thinking about philanthropy in his 30s. At the time, he was leading investment bank DSP Merrill Lynch in Mumbai. One of his goals then was to lead a large bank by the age of 40, something he achieved at 33.

Chandra had an engineering degree from Mumbai’s VJTI and had received an MBA from Boston College in the US. But early success still left Chandra unfulfilled. ‘Something was missing...

I felt quite lost at that point in time," he said of his time in his 30s. He began paying attention to the social sector and was soon on the boards of several non-profit organizations alongside other like-minded people like the former Thermax chief Anu Aga, who was running the Akanksha Foundation, and the late ICICI Bank chairman N. Vaghul, who was the head of the Give India Foundation.

That exposure was useful, because he felt, the act of “giving" was not about money alone, it was also about time. Chandra started going into municipal schools, trying to understand how teaching, or the lack of it, happens and engaging more with the students from the slums. After his wife joined a non-profit, the conversation at home also began changing.

In 2008, Chandra moved to set up the Mumbai office of Bain Capital, assuming the role of partner and chairperson of the firm in India. But in the meanwhile, he also got influenced by J.R.D. Tata’s thinking and Chuck Feeny’s “Giving while Living" philosophy.

Feeny, the founder of PE firm General Atlantic, gave away more than 99% of his $8 billion fortune during his lifetime. Chandra met Feeny, who passed away in October 2023 at the age of 92, several times. “Around the time I started Bain Capital (India), my