THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR HINDU STUDIES
Registered charity 1074458 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as OCHS, THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR VAISHNAVA AND HINDU STUDIES
The principal aim of the Centre, founded in 1997, is the study of Hindu culture, religion, languages, literature, philosophy, history, arts, and society, in all periods and in all parts of the world. All Hindu traditions are included.
Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a net surplus of £276,946 for the year, with unrestricted reserves increasing to £984,790. However, the trustees note that the charity is reliant on continued support from benefactors and is actively campaigning for funds to purchase new premises to ensure long-term sustainability.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Donations (80% of income)
“The OCHS received donations of £874,755 (2024: £246,498) during the year. Fee income of £164,110 (2024: £145,591) was received”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Going concern: noted by the trustees or auditor
“The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies is reliant on the continued support of its benefactors. The charity’s property fundraising campaign is continuing.” — page 28
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Note 20
“An interest free loan of £1,300,000 was received on 15 November 2024, an overseas charitable foundation. The loan is repayable on 14 November 2029 although early payment is allowed. The funds were used to partly repay the £1,700,000 loan used to purchase the charity’s freehold premises.” — page 28
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Wenn Townsend. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Funders the charity credits
Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).
- Digital Scholarship (DiSc) — “OCHS Faculty are leading Devanagari Optical Character Recognition (OCR) research at Oxford University with a £42,250 Digital Scholarship (Di…” (source page)
Property (HM Land Registry)
1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold); recorded price paid £2.5m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Reported reserves equal ~17.9 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (85% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
- LORD NAVNIT DHOLAKIA OBE DLchair
- AZAD SHIVDASANI · trustee of 1 other charity
- Ajay Piramal
- Madhu Ruia
- PROFESSOR DIWAKAR ACHARYA · trustee of 1 other charity
- PROFESSOR MARK SMITH
- Professor Mark Edwards
- Pujan Patel · trustee of 2 other charities
- Ramesh Venkataraman
- SHAUNAKA RISHI DAS
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR HINDU STUDIES financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net surplus of £276,946 for the year, with unrestricted reserves increasing to £984,790. However, the trustees note that the charity is reliant on continued support from benefactors and is actively campaigning for funds to purchase new premises to ensure long-term sustainability. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Wenn Townsend.
Government & lottery funding
Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).
Funders of similar charities
Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.
Charities like this
Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.