Premji donates $2B worth Wipro shares

Bangalore, Dec 2: Keeping up with the spirit of Christmas, Azim Premji has set a new precedent to corporate honchos who flaunt and splurge in material wealth by donating a whopping $2B worth of Wipro shares to social and non-profit initiatives.

Premji who has been involved in many charitable causes earlier has broken all records and has emerged as the largest donation by any Indian towards a just cause. In association with the Azim Premji Foundation, the funds will be used for the upliftment of school education in India.

Premji is the second richest Indian with a personal wealth of $17 billion in 2010 (as per Forbes), and will transfer 213 million equity shares (or 8.68% stake), at current market price valued approximately at Rs 8846 crore, of Wipro Ltd. The transfer will be effected by 7 December 2010.

Always keen to be part of the empowerment of rural India, the foundation has helped to improve the quality of education with the cooperation of State governments. Its programs have touched over 25,000 schools and over 2.5 million children over the years, said a release.

“We believe that good education is crucial to building a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. We want to contribute significantly towards improvement of education in India, and through that towards building a better society. The Foundation"s significant increase in scale and its clear focus on social purposes will require a substantial long term financial commitment, which is the purpose this endowment will serve," said Premji.

OneIndia News