IT czar Azim Premji has given away another chunk of his stakeholding in Wipro, India’s third largest exporter of software services, to philanthropy.
Wipro’s billionaire founder has given away another 18 per cent of his stake in the IT company to charity, thus earmarking 39 per cent (worth ₹53,284 crore) for a charitable trust.
The latest philanthropic initiative by Premji would pump in an additional ₹530 crore by way of dividends into the Azim Premji Trust’s corpus this year.
Premji, 69, is the first Indian to sign the Giving Pledge, sponsored by billionaires Warren Buffett and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, to invite the world’s wealthiest to donate the majority of their wealth to charity.
“Over the past fifteen years, I have tried to put this belief into action through my personal philanthropic work...,” Premji said in a letter to shareholders published in the company’s annual report for the year ended March 2015.
Premji said: “Over these years I have irrevocably transferred a significant part of the shareholding in Wipro, amounting to 39 per cent of the shares of Wipro, to a Trust (of which ownership in 21.14 per cent was transferred and for the balance the Trust is entitled to beneficial interest of dividends and sale proceeds).”
The previously transferred 21 per cent stake was estimated at $4.3 billion. The promoter group led by Premji holds a 73.39 per cent stake in Wipro.