Subroto Bagchi - Odisha's Warren Buffett

Amidst the persistently depressing coverage of a raging pandemic, last week came the welcome news of an act of philanthropy that was staggering in scale by Indian standards.  Subroto Bagchi (co-founder of the IT services company Mindtree and chairman of Odisha Skill Development Authority), and his wife Susmita Bagchi (writer and chairperson of Odisha’s Mo School programme) announced their pledge of INR 340 Crore (USD 45 Million) to establish a state-of-the-art cancer hospital and a palliative care center in Bhubaneswar.  This generous act has resulted in many news headlines comparing Bagchi to Warren Buffett - so let us delve a bit more into that comparison.

Warren Buffett, aged 90, is chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, which is a holding company of various publicly traded and privately held business entities as well as passive investments in the stocks of other companies.  Buffett has a net worth of around USD 100 Billion (as of April 2021), and is consistently ranked among the top ten wealthiest people in the world.  He is also regarded as one of the most successful investors of all time.  Under Buffett's stewardship, Berkshire Hathaway's stock price grew at an annualized rate of 20.5% during the period 1965-2018, compared to 9.7% for the S&P 500 index (a broad measure of the US stock market).  Buffett is known as the "Oracle of Omaha", primarily for his insightful but folksy commentaries on investing and the economy during the annual shareholders meetings of Berkshire Hathaway at its headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.

Buffet's other claim to fame is his promise to donate over 99% of his wealth - meaning that his children will not directly inherit a significant portion of the family fortune.  Buffett has said, "I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing".  He has already given more than USD 40 Billion, mostly to the Gates Foundation and foundations run by his children.  In 2010, Buffett and Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge, asking billionaires to commit to donating at least half of their wealth to charitable causes.

Although Bagchi's net worth is not comparable to that of Buffett, his philosophy of handling money is very similar.  As he said in a recent interview, "A decade ago, we had a family meeting, when Susmita, me and our two daughters, we discussed how we will handle our money. At the time, we decided two things -- one, that our savings will not be inherited by the family, except for a small portion and that most of it would be used to serve humanity. We did not fix the amount then, but the idea was agreed upon.  We saw ourselves as the custodians of our wealth and not its owners."  These sentiments are very much in sync with his mother's advice "Go Kiss the World" - as described by Bagchi in his book.. 

It is indeed fair to say that one of Odisha's (and India's) most successful entrepreneurs (Bagchi) is a philanthropist of the highest order - much like Warren Buffett.  The Bagchi family's altruistic mindset is also well aligned with the best traditions of charitable giving as per our ancient scriptural teachings, as outlined in the Shikshavalli of the Taittiriya Upanishad:

        श्रद्धया देयम् । Give with Faith

        श्रिया देयम् । Give in Plenty

        ह्रिया देयम् । Give with Modesty

On a personal note, Subroto Bagchi was my senior at BJB College Bhubaneswar, where he was well-known as a champion debater and the NCC Best Cadet awardee at India's Republic Day Parade.  I still remember our only meeting, at the college debate competition (which he duly won while I was eliminated) - he came up to me after the event and said, "You spoke well, but try to be a bit more factual next time".  His advice has served me well over the years.

I have enjoyed Susmita's short stories and travelogues - published in the journal Sucharita (where she served as Assistant Editor and then Editor).  A particular favorite is her short story collection "Naibedya", with one of the stories "Antahswara" loosely serving as the inspiration for our recent skit "Corona Dahani" (YouTube link here).  

Susmita's grandfather Narayan Pati was the headmaster of Orissa Police High School where I studied for a few years.  A brilliant educator and the author of many highly regarded textbooks in school-level mathematics, he actively promoted Odisha's well-known musical folk theater form - Gitinatya - by making it a recurring item during our school's annual function (with help from musician's of the Orissa Police band). 

Subroto and Susmita Bagchi's benevolence, humility and spirit of public service should be something to take pride in for all OdiAs, and serve as a source of inspiration.  May Lord Jagannath continue to shower his blessings on the Bagchi Family.