A Journey of Purpose

Eighteen years ago, I began the journey of building the Piramal Foundation with a simple belief: if we can instill compassion and empathy in rigid systems, especially among government middle managers who deliver critical services, we can change outcomes for millions.

What began as a small effort has now evolved into an institution of nearly 5,000 people, operating across 27 states, covering 112 aspirational districts, and positively impacting over 143 million lives.

The key was to build compassion as a capability among the one million government officials who form the backbone of India’s education and health systems. Through the Piramal School of Leadership (PSL) in Rajasthan, we equip over 50,000 officials annually with the values and skills to lead with empathy and effectiveness.

India has built world-class institutions in engineering (IITs), management (IIMs), and medicine (AIIMS). Yet, we lack institutions that prepare leaders for public systems, leaders who can transform governance, strengthen last-mile delivery, and nurture inclusive development. PSL has demonstrated what’s possible: once among India’s weakest performers in education, Rajasthan now ranks second nationally in ‘learning outcomes’¹. Jhunjhunu district, where PSL is based, is the top-performing² district in the state.

This transformation, rooted in deep partnership with government and civil society, has strengthened my conviction that when compassion meets capability within public systems, real change follows.

A Renewed Calling

As I enter the next phase of my life, I feel a deep calling to do more, much more. The journey of the Piramal Foundation has revealed both the power of what works and the scale of what remains undone.

This realization has sparked a bold and urgent vision: to uplift 70 million people from multidimensional poverty through the Global Alliance for Viksit Bharat (GAVB). The initiative focuses on India’s five most underserved states, Jharkhand, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Bihar (collectively known as the JACOB states), which continue to bear the highest burden of deprivation, between 15% and 34%³ of the population in these states still lives in multidimensional poverty.

These states face India’s toughest challenges:

• Difficult terrain: Dense forests, hills, and flooded rivers isolate villages for months.
• Tribal populations: Nearly 26%⁴ of India’s indigenous peoples live here, with life expectancy being lower than average.
• Extraction industries: Rich in minerals but marked by displacement, malnutrition, and unrest.
• Fragile borders: Security risks and refugee influxes make service delivery fragile.

I am pouring my heart into this mission, working full-time, meeting communities, state leaders, and partners across India and the world. We must accelerate, bringing the same innovation and intensity that transformed industries into transforming lives, so that every person not only escapes poverty but truly thrives.

This is not just an India project. It is a template for the Global South, showing how local leadership, backed by data, innovation, and global solidarity, can solve humanity’s toughest challenges.

2025 Philanthropy Innovation Summit. Inspirations from the East: How Asia is Redefining the Frontier of Philanthropic Innovation at Stanford University on March 6, 2025.
Photography by: Christine Baker

Three principles will guide this vision

1. Patient Capital: Staying the Course

Systems change takes time, often decades. It requires patience to invest in leadership and institutional capacity before results are visible.

At the Piramal Foundation, we have stayed invested in Rajasthan’s education reform for over a decade. Through PSL’s work with government, Rajasthan moved from one of the lowest performers to the second¹ best in India.

This is what patient capital looks like: sustained investment in people, processes, and public systems that unlock transformation, not quick wins, but enduring shifts that empower millions.

2. Courage to Serve Underserved Regions

Transformation begins where attention is scarce. We deliberately choose to work in tribal, rural, and low-HDI (Human Development Indicators) districts where needs are greatest, but voices are least heard.

Programs like the Gandhi and Karuna Fellowship (Youth and Local women) exemplify this principle. We equip rural youth and women with leadership, digital, and livelihood skills, enabling them to participate in governance decisions, influence local systems, and inspire their peers.

This courage to go where it’s hardest has allowed us to seed leadership at the grassroots, turning marginalization into momentum for change.

3. Trust in Government Partnerships

We do not bypass the state; we co-create with it. Real scale and sustainability come only when governments own the process.

In Bihar, a $2 million philanthropic investment in Health Command and Control Centers enabled real-time monitoring across 12,800⁵ facilities, catalyzing $37.5 million of state funding. Similar initiatives in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, and Chhattisgarh are projected to unlock $475 million of public investment to scale over the next five years.

This is what partnership looks like in practice, philanthropy de-risks innovation, the state scales it, and citizens benefit. Trust and shared accountability make the change last.

To achieve this scale and enduring impact, collaboration is essential. No single institution can tackle multidimensional poverty alone. Our approach is to work shoulder-to-shoulder with governments, knowledge institutions, and philanthropic allies, each bringing complementary expertise in data, innovation, and delivery.

Together, we can build resilient public systems capable of serving every citizen with dignity and opportunity.

Reframing the Day

Every year, on October 17, the world observes the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a reminder that wherever people live in deprivation, human rights are violated. The world has made extraordinary progress, lifting over a billion people out of extreme poverty since 1990 but too many remain excluded from opportunity.

More critically, the way we have defined poverty has limited our understanding of the problem itself. Poverty is not just about empty wallets, but empty opportunities, when a child is stunted by malnutrition, a young girl is denied schooling, or a mother dies giving birth.

India’s adoption of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) marks a turning point, shifting the focus from income to access, from survival to dignity. Between 2015–16 and 2019–21, 135 million⁶ Indians rose out of multidimensional poverty, showing what’s possible when intent meets innovation.

Poverty as a Moral Question

Poverty is not only material deprivation. It is an assault on dignity and agency.

Indian civilizational thought has long recognized this truth. Two concepts remain timeless:

• Sewa Bhaav (Spirit of Service): The ethic of selfless service, animated by compassion and humility. It frames service not as charity from the privileged to the poor, but as a moral duty that recognizes the oneness of humanity.
• Sarvodaya⁸: Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of the “welfare of all,” where true progress is measured not by individual accumulation but by collective uplift.

To deny a person education or health is to deny their dignity and agency. In this sense, the fight against poverty is both Spiritual and Systemic.

As we mark another International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the question is no longer whether poverty can be ended, but what comes after.

If we stop at income thresholds, we risk a world where people survive but do not flourish. The true goal must be human flourishing, grounded in Dignity, Compassion, and Sewa Bhaav, the spirit of service that recognizes our shared humanity.

“The next revolution in development will not be technological, but moral, when compassion becomes capability.”