Of them, four are co-founders of Infosys, one of India's largest information technology services companies. Kerala-born entrepreneur Sunny Varkey, who in June pledged about half of his $2.25 billion dollar fortune to charity as part of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet-led Giving Pledge initiative, tops the list of philanthropists in the region. Dubai-based Varkey is the founder of GEMS Education, a chain of 70 private schools in 14 counties. Infosys co-founders Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, Nandan Nilekani and S D Shibulal feature on the list for their individual contributions to the health and education sectors.

Another Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's son Rohan is on the list for donating a whopping $5.2 million to Harvard University Press for promoting ancient Indian literary classics.

He represents his father N R Narayana Murthy as a philanthropist.