The Gift Of Life

A kidney donation by a Kerala mogul set a new standard for transplant-needy India.

- Naazneen Karmali

As his 60th birthday drew close, Kochouseph Chittilappilly couldn’t help but acknowledge that life was good. The business magnate had built from scratch an empire comprising electrical and electronic equipment and amusement parks. Nonetheless, Chittilappilly was overcome by the urge “to do something larger with my life.”

In 2011, two months after he turned 60, the tycoon checked into a hospital in Kochi city in south India, accompanied by his anxious family. There he underwent a four-hour surgery to remove one of his kidneys, but not because it was diseased or dysfunctional. Chittilappilly had agreed to donate the organ to an ailing trucker, who was a complete stranger.

Chittilappilly’s ambition was to start a kidney exchange or what he hoped would be the first link in a long chain of kidney donors. A member of the recipient’s family (in this case, the trucker’s wife, whose kidney wasn’t compatible for her husband) had to agree to donate their kidney to someone else in need. This unorthodox act of charity ultimately unravelled as a string when one recipient lacked clan support, but it was a turning point for the original giver.

Since then, Chittilappilly has handed over the running of his two listed companies, V-Guard Industries (revenue: $320 million) and Wonderla Holidays (revenue: $38 million), to his two sons and chosen to mostly focus on philanthropic pursuits. In 2012 he set up the eponymous K. Chittilappilly Foundation to which he donates the major part of his annual earnings, including dividends ($1.2 million in 2017).