Religious beliefs, charity led Indian households to donate Rs 23,700 crore in cash in one year.

The market size of household giving in India is Rs. 23.7 thousand crores. This amount was donated by Indian households between October 2020 and September 2021.

This was revealed in a study labeled "How India Gives| 2020-21", conducted by the World panel Division of Kantar and the WPP foundation for the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy at Ashoka University supported by the Citi foundation. The sample covered a representative population of 81,000 from 18 states of urban and rural areas, and higher income, middle-income, and lower-income socioeconomic groups, including Guwahati from Northeast India.

Of the 81,000 households who were surveyed, 87 percent reported donating between October 2020 and September 2021.

And the most predominant form of giving was ‘cash’ at 93 percent of the total household giving. Donations in ‘cash’ included giving by cash (currency
notes), cheque, digital wallets (e.g., Paytm, GooglePay, Phone pe, Amazon Pay, etc.), credit/debit card (offline – through POS), and credit/debit card (online – through payment gateways).

The survey revealed that ‘religious organisations’ captured the biggest market share of donations in India at 70 percent (Rs. 16.6 thousand crores). This was followed by ‘beggars’, with an estimated share of 12 percent (Rs. 2.9 thousand crores), ‘family and friends' at 9 percent (Rs. 2 thousand crores), ‘non-religious organisations’ at 5 percent (Rs. 1.1 thousand crores), and ‘household staff’ at 4 percent (Rs. 1 thousand crores).

Of the total incidence of household giving, more households contribute to ‘religious organisations’ (64 percent), followed by ‘beggars’ (61 percent), ‘family and friends’(9 percent), ‘non-religious organisations’ (5 percent), and ‘household staff’ (4 percent).

‘In-person outreach’ by ‘volunteers or agents’ of ‘religious organisations’ emerged as critical to soliciting donations. At the same time, higher and middle-income groups reported that they did not any make donations because they were ‘not approached by anyone’. This suggests that there is potential for increasing household giving through effective outreach and communication.

About 37 percent of the total households who donated belong to the middle-income category (SEC B/C) and had the highest share of the market at 44 percent. Approximately, 52 percent of total households who donated are in the lower-income category (SEC D/E) whose contribution was 34 percent of the estimated market share. Households from higher-income categories were more likely to give to ‘non-religious organisations’ than those in lower-income categories.

The study also revealed that religious beliefs were the primary motivation for giving followed by the desire to support someone with financial
distress, along with family traditions.

Another important finding of the survey was information on gendered forms of giving. Women were the primary decision-makers in giving to ‘household staff’ and ‘beggars’, while men were the key decision makers in giving to ‘family and friends’ and ‘religious organisations’.

Furthermore, only 15 percent of the total 4 percent households that gave to ‘non-religious organisations’, cited COVID-19 as a motivation. Religious beliefs, the need and desire to support those in financial distress, and family traditions of giving were reported as the top three motivations for giving.

Of these households, a slightly higher incidence of charity was observed in rural India (88 percent) as compared to urban India (83 percent). Among regions, eastern India (96 percent) and northern India (94 percent) reported a higher incidence of donation. In other words, 9 out of 10 households were involved in giving in these regions.

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