Azim Premji raises his contribution to philanthropy to $21B

Wipro chairman Azim Premji has significantly raised his contribution towards philanthropy by earmarking an additional 34% shares in the company.

With this, the total value of the philanthropic endowment corpus contributed by Premji is Rs 1,45,000 crore or approximately $21 billion, which includes 67% of economic ownership of Wipro.

“Premji, chairman of Azim Premji Foundation, announced today that he has increased his commitment to philanthropy, by irrevocably renouncing more of his personal assets and earmarking them to the Endowment, which supports the Foundation’s philanthropic activities. He has done this by additionally earmarking all economic benefits for philanthropic purposes, in approximately 34% of the shares in Wipro Ltd (current market value Rs 52,750 crore or $ 7.5 billion), held by certain entities controlled by him,” said the company in a press release.

Premji’s philanthropic activities have consistently focused on contributing “to developing a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society in India”.

“To enable this vision, the Azim Premji Foundation works directly in education and supports other not-for-profits working in some specific areas through multi-year financial grants. The Foundation’s extensive field work in education has been in some of the most disadvantaged parts of India, to help contribute to the improvement of quality and equity of the public (government) schooling system. All this work has been in close partnership with various State Governments,” said Wipro in the release.