Tariq Premji joins board of Wipro Enterprises

Tariq Premji, the younger son of Wipro chairman Azim Premji, has been appointed to the board of Wipro Enterprises, the $1.23-billion privately-held non-IT business that makes soaps such as Santoor and builds aerospace sub-systems for plane makers such as Airbus and Boeing.

The 40-year-old Tariq, who started off working in Premji Invest, the family investment arm, has also spent considerable time in the philanthropy initiatives of Premji, joined the Wipro Enterprises board effective June 1, according to regulatory disclosures.

Wipro Enterprises, which runs a strong consumer care and lighting business with operations in India, Southeast Asia and West Asia, owns brands such as Santoor, Chandrika and Yardley. The infrastructure engineering business builds hydraulics equipment for construction and earthmoving companies and is among the largest independent hydraulic cylinder manufacturers in the world.

Wipro Enterprises earned profits of ₹950 crore on revenues of ₹8,248 crore in fiscal 2017, according to latest financial disclosures.

Tariq Premji’s independent objective view will add to the board’s deliberations, a Wipro Enterprises statement said. He is also on the board of Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, Azim Premji Foundation for Development and Azim Premji Foundation. He holds 3.91% stake in Wipro, the IT arm.

Premji’s elder son Rishad, who is the chief strategy officer and a board member of Wipro, is also on the board of Wipro Enterprises.

The two divisions of Wipro Enterprises are manned by Wipro veterans — Vineet Agarwal, who runs the consumer care and lighting division, and Pratik Kumar, who runs infrastructure engineering. Wipro Infrastructure Engineering has set up an industrial automation unit to gain a large pie of the near $400-million manufacturing automation market in India, ET reported on May 31.

Tariq Premji’s independent objective view will add to the board’s deliberations, a Wipro Enterprises statement said.