A diamond tycoon from India has paid for the weddings of 3,172 couples over the past decade. This decade, Mahesh Savani of PP Savani Group, financed the weddings of 261 fatherless brides – including Hindu, Muslim, and Christian brides – at a huge ceremony.
118 of these brides did not have any siblings while 54 were orphans.
Besides paying for the typically expensive weddings, Mr Savani and his team of volunteers also gave the brides away to their grooms as part of the ceremony. The volunteers who gave the fatherless brides away include Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and several Indian Administrative Service and Indian police officers.
Mr Savani also gifted the newlywed couples with gifts like household items to begin their lives with, besides gifting each couple insurance worth 200,000 rupees.
Mr Savani began his generous tradition ten years ago in 2008, when he organised the wedding of the daughter of a distant relative who had passed away.
In interviews since then, the businessman has said that he considers helping women who cannot afford their own weddings as part of his “social responsibility.”
Watch the video of the massive ceremony this year, here: