Chennai: Wipro chairman Azim Premji, also the chairman of Azim Premji Foundation announced that he has increased his commitment to philanthropy, by irrevocably renouncing 34 per cent of the shares in Wipro, earmarking them to the Endowment, which supports the Foundation’s philanthropic activities.
At current market value, these shares amount up to Rs 52,750 crore ($7.5 billion), held by certain entities controlled by him.
This action is in addition to his earlier donations to philanthropy, which included Wipro’s shares, as well as other assets owned by him.
With this action, the total value of the philanthropic endowment corpus contributed by Premji is Rs 1.45 lakh crore ($21 billion), which includes 67 per cent of economic ownership of Wipro Limited.
The Azim Premji Foundation works directly in education and supports other not-for-profits working in some specific areas through multi-year financial grants.