Azim Premji donates Rs 530 crore to trust

Bengaluru: IT czar Azim Premji has given away almost half of his stakeholding in Wipro, India’s third largest exporter of software services, to philanthropy.The Wipro’s billionaire founder has given away an additional 18 per cent of his stake in the IT company for charity, thus earmarking 39 per cent of stake (worth Rs 53,284 crore) for a charitable trust.

The latest philanthropic initiative by Premji would pump in an additional Rs 530 crore by way of dividends into the Azim Premji Trust’s corpus this year. 69-year old Premji is the first Indian to sign the Giving Pledge, sponsored by billionaires Warren Buffett and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to invite the world’s wealthiest to donate majority of their wealth to charity.

“Over the past fifteen years, I have tried to put this belief into action through my personal philanthropic work...," Premji said in a letter to shareholders published in the company’s annual report for the year ended March 2015. The previously transferred 21 per cent stake was estimated at $4.3 billion. The promoter group led by Premji holds 73.39 per cent stake in Wipro.