Finance Minister says India's healthcare institutions lack 'large endowments'

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that India's healthcare institutions receive donations from religious groups and CSR programmes, unlike other countries which receive large endowments. "Most hospitals internationally have some of the largest endowments. The social sector in India gets funded more on a community basis, except for this new beginning that we started in the last four years when we started the corporate social responsibility," Jaitley added while speaking an event in AIIMS here.

Under the Companies Act, 2013, a certain class of profitable entities are required to shell out at least 2 per cent of their three-year annual average net profit towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.

The Finance Minister also noted that charities in India are still largely depended on social endowments while in developed countries hospitals receive large endowments due to factors like inheritance tax. "Most hospitals internationally have some of the largest endowments which come to the educational institutions from their alumni. Once they are successful in life, they keep supporting the institutions with those endowments. Some IITs have started that experiment now in India. But still, it's not very largely prevalent," he added.