Tag Archives: Azim Premji-Wipro Chief

Meet India’s second-most generous man who made Rs 1774 crore donation, much more than Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani

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Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA / Bengaluru, KARNATAKA:

One such figure on the list is Azim Premji, the IT magnate from Wipro, who along with his family gave Rs 1774 crore, making him the second most generous person in India. Premji’s donation has exceeded Reliance boss Mukesh Ambani’s contribution, which was Rs 376 crore.

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DNA Web Team / Updated: Nov 02, 2023, 07:14 PM IST

Indian millionaires have been recognised for participating in several charitable endeavours to give back to the community across a variety of fields. The Hurun India Philanthropy List includes some well-known people, like Shiv Nadar of HCL and Mukesh Ambani, the head of Reliance.

One such figure on the list is Azim Premji, the IT magnate from Wipro, who along with his family gave Rs 1774 crore, making him the second most generous person in India. Premji’s donation has exceeded Reliance boss Mukesh Ambani’s contribution, which was Rs 376 crore. 

Who is Azim Premji?

Azim Premji, a Mumbai native, served as Wipro’s chairman and is currently a non-executive member. Hashim Premji was the name of his affluent businessman father. Azim graduated from Stanford University in 1966 with a degree in electrical engineering. Following his father’s death in 1966, Premji left Stanford to manage the family’s cooking oil company before branching out into software.

Remarkably, he used distance learning to finish his engineering degree from the institution in 1999. Azim Premji has built an enormous empire and is referred to be the “Czar” of the IT sector. Wipro has an innovation centre in Silicon Valley where they work with entrepreneurs and create new technologies.

Rishad, Premji’s son, took over as executive chairman of Wipro in July 2019. Wipro, the Rs 2 lakh crore company owned by Indian IT billionaire Azim Premji, is one of the biggest software services companies in India. Azim Premji is a wealthy Indian tycoon who also happens to be one of the most generous with a staggering net worth of $11.4 billion or Rs 94,000 crore.

He committed to donate half of his money in 2013. He gave the Azim Premji Foundation, which supports education in India, 2.2 billion dollars. In the 1980s, he founded Wipro in response to a request from the government to remove IBM. The 1990s saw a sharp surge in Wipro’s worth.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Business / by DNA Web Team / November 02nd, 2023

Wipro’s Azim Premji donated Rs 27 crore per day in FY21, retains top giver rank

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Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Wipro’s Azim Premji donated Rs 9,713 crore or Rs 27 crore a day to retain his top rank among Indian philanthropists in FY21.

Indian business tycoon Azim Premji
Indian business tycoon Azim Premji (Photo | PTI)

Mumbai :

Software exporter Wipro’s Azim Premji donated Rs 9,713 crore or Rs 27 crore a day to retain his top rank among Indian philanthropists in FY21.

Premji, the founder chairman of the company, increased his donation by nearly a fourth during the pandemic year, as per the Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2021, which had HCL’s Shiv Nadar at second place with contributions of Rs 1,263 crore towards upliftment causes.

Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, India’s richest man by a distance, came third on the list with a Rs 577 crore contribution and was succeeded by Kumar Mangalam Birla with Rs 377 crore.

The second richest Indian Gautam Adani is eighth on the givers’ list with a donation of Rs 130 crore towards disaster relief.

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s ranking improved to fifth with a Rs 183 crore donation with “societal thinking” being identified as the primary cause.

“At present, most of the money is going to fundamental aspects like education and healthcare because of the requirements on the ground. Nilekani has indeed made interesting contributions, and in 10 years, we will have broader civil society issues feature as primary causes,” Hurun India’s managing director and chief researcher Anas Rahman Junaid said.

He said as the age profile of the givers shifts to those under-40, and many of them being self-made ones also presents a hopeful picture.

There are a few new entrants into the list, including the largest stocks investor Rakesh Jhunjunwala, who donated a fourth of his overall earnings or Rs 50 crore in FY21 with efforts on education.

hunjunwala, who recently had a private meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is among the backers of Ashoka University, as per a statement.

Brothers Nithin and Nikhil Kamath committed USD 100 million (Rs 750 crore) over the next few years to support individuals, organisations and companies working on solutions for climate change and are 35th on the list.

Former chairman of engineering major Larsen & Toubro, A M Naik, is 11th on the list with a donation of Rs 112 crore, it said, adding that he has pledged to give away 75 per cent of his income for charitable purposes.

Others in the top ten givers include the Hinduja Family, Bajaj Family, Anil Agarwal and the Burman family.

Nine women find their place in the list led by a Rs 69 crore donation by Rohini Nilekani of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and, followed by Leena Gandhi Tewari of USV who donated Rs 24 crore, and Anu Aga of Thermax donated Rs 20 crore.

Based on the place of residence, Mumbai led with 31 per cent of the list and was followed by New Delhi 17 per cent and Bengaluru 10 per cent.

The pharma industry has the largest number of philanthropists followed by automobile and auto components and software and services.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Business / by PTI / October 28th, 2021

Wipro, Azim Premji Foundation commit Rs 1,125 cr to tackling coronavirus

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Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

WiproMPOs03apr2020

IT major Wipro Ltd, Wipro Enterprises Ltd and Azim Premji Foundation, have together committed Rs 1,125 crore towards tackling the unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These resources will help enable the dedicated medical and service fraternity in the frontline of the battle against the pandemic and in mitigating its wide-ranging human impact, particularly on the most disadvantaged of our society,” the companies  said in a statement.

Of the Rs 1,125 crore, Wipro Ltd’s commitment is Rs 100 crore, Wipro Enterprises Ltd’s Rs 25 crore, and that of the Azim Premji Foundation is Rs 1,000 crore. These sums are in addition to the annual CSR activities of Wipro, and the usual philanthropic spends of the Azim Premji Foundation, the statement added.

Integrated action will be taken for a comprehensive on-the-ground response in specific geographies, it said.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Business> Business News / by DHMS, Bengaluru / April 02nd, 2020

Azim Premji conferred highest French civilian award

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Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Wipro Limited Chairman Azim Premji receives the highest French civilian distinction, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour), from Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler, in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Wipro Limited Chairman Azim Premji receives the highest French civilian distinction, Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour), from Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler, in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Azim Premji, philanthropist and Chairman of Wipro Limited, on Wednesday received the highest French civilian distinction, Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) from Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler.

Speaking on the occasion at the Wipro campus, Ziegler said the award was bestowed on Azim Premji for his outstanding contribution to developing the information technology industry in India.

“Also, for his economic outreach in France, and his laudable contribution to society as a philanthropist through the Azim Premji Foundation and Azim Premji University,” he said.

TheLegion d’Honneur , instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients.

The President of the French Republic is the Grand Master of the Order of the Legion of Honour.

In his acceptance speech, Premji said he is extremely honoured by the award bestowed on me. “The vibrancy of the French democracy and its diversity is an inspiration to all across the world,” he said.

Wipro’s association with France spans over 15 years and the company enjoys a close relationship with several French organizations. Nearly 65% of Wipro’s employees in France are locals.

France is a key market for Wipro and the company is committed to continues investments there. Large French digital companies already have a strong footprint in India, employing over 1.3 lakh people at their R&D centres and facilities.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Business> Business News / by N.V. Vijayakumar / DH News Service, Bengaluru / November 28th, 2018

I knelt a lot outside class for being naughty: Premji

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AzimPremjiMPOs05feb2017

Reminiscing about his school days, Wipro chief Azim Premji on Saturday said he spent a lot of time outside the classroom kneeling for being naughty.

“Yes, I was very naughty when I was a kid and those days, we got rapped on the knuckles and hit on the head and you had to be kneeling outside the class for a long time. Some of these practices are no longer there, but I spent a lot of time outside the class kneeling,” he said.

He was replying to a query in an interaction with students at the celebrations of Wipro’s 2016 Earthian Awards here.

Asked why he left college early in his life, Premji said he did it for taking up responsibilities of his father who died very young, but completed masters in electrical engineering many years later.

“I left the college in between, primarily because I had to take responsibilities from my father who died at a very young age, but eventually many years later I did get a masters degree in electrical engineering,” he said.

Asked about the future of children, especially girls, Premji said girls are more serious than boys about their career, provided they are getting support from parents.

“Girls take their careers much more seriously, and girls particularly in villages take their careers even more seriously, once the parents give them the latitudinal support,” he said.

“Unfortunately, many parents put young girls to take care of the younger child, because the mother goes out to earn in addition to husband’s earning,” he said.

Premji further said girls fare better than boys in getting academic awards and are street-smart.

“I have travelled enough to schools in villages and colleges too, the girls always turn out to be street-smart, consistently. Just look at the quality of questions you get from the ladies in the audience. In my opinion, girls ask far more intelligent questions than boys,” he said.

“I also find, wherever the schools are following ranking system, 50% of the awards go to girls in a class,” Premji added.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DHNS – February 05th, 2017