Cool your jets
Private jet providers are in high demand as India’s super-wealthy try to leave the country.
Hello Quartz readers,
With more than 140 super-rich persons, India is home to the world’s third-highest number of billionaires—it added 40 of them just last year. Now, as thousands of Indians struggle to pay hospital bills, buy medicine, and even afford cremations for their family members, most of these billionaires are MIA. Those that do get involved are contributing through their companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) pools, not out of their own pockets. Indian law requires large companies to spend part of their net profits on CSR activities.
Thousands of middle- and lower-middle-class Indians have spent the past several weeks trying to help family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers by contributing to charitable organizations and frantically mobilizing resources for patients. Calling around for oxygen is common; cooking meals for sick neighbors routine. Meanwhile, an April 26 report in The Times of India noted that eight private jets, costing 72 lakh rupees ($96,941) each, arrived in London from India 24 hours before the UK announced a travel ban against the country.
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