On the other hand, charity donations are suffering as the super-rich prefer to maintain their opulent lifestyle over philanthropy in the gloomy economic environment, a report by rating agency Crisil says. “The high net-worth families give priority to maintain their lifestyle, which gives them the societal status, due to which, we have found some shifts in behaviours, with contributions to charity going down,” Crisil Rresident (Research) Mukesh Agarwal said.

He said the phenomenon of lifestyle maintenance is a universal factor across the high networth households (HNH) with all the segments showing a propensity to reallocate resources towards the purpose.

Self-made entrepreneurs and wealth inheritors are found to have chosen to cut down on charity, while the professionals dig into their savings for the purpose, Agarwal said, citing the report which has surveyed 150 HNH and relied on official data from a host of agencies.

Any family having a networth of over 25 crore qualifies to be an HNH, he said. As a percentage of income allocation, contribution to charity and other philanthropic activities slipped to 4.4 percent in 2011 from 2010, the report said.

It found that there was 50 percent increase in spending on apparels and accessories by the HNHs in 2011 over 2010, followed by 23 percent hike in vintage spirits and liquor. It said allocation towards meeting expenses has raised to 28.2 percent from the year ago’s 22.4 percent.

(With Agency Inputs)

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