Azim Premji gives away half of his stake in Wipro for charity

Premji controls a 73.39% stake in India's third-largest IT services company.

Wipro Ltd’s chairman Azim Premji has allocated more than half of his wealth to charity by giving away an additional 18% of his stake in the company to his foundation.
This will result in an additional Rs 530 crore into the Azim Premji Foundation’s corpus this year by way of dividends.
Premji controls a 73.39% stake in India's third-largest IT services company, which is worth about Rs 99,500 crore ($15.7 billion). He had previously allocated 21% of his stake, worth $4.3 billion, to the foundation. Now with an additional 18%, his total contribution would be 39%. The foundation will be entitled to earnings from the dividends from these shares and proceeds from share sale, if and when it happens.
“Over these years, I have irrevocably transferred a significant part of the shareholding in Wipro, amounting to 39% of the shares of Wipro, to a trust,” said Premji in a letter to the shareholders.
Premji had signed a giving pledge in 2013 along with philanthropists such as Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates among others. He set up the Azim Premji Foundation in 2001 to focus on philanthropy and improve the country’s school system. The foundation works in eight states with more than 350,000 schools.

• India