Azim Premji quotes Gandhi at last AGM

Wednesday 24th July 2019 06:02 EDT
 

In his last address to shareholders as Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Wipro, Azim Premji said the IT firm is making significant investment in digital, cloud, engineering services and cyber security as the company aims to outshine its previous performance. After more than five decades of chairmanship of the company, Premji will pass on the mantle to his son Rishad Premji, though he will continue to serve on the board as non-executive director and founder chairman. Premji will call it a day after 53 years on July 30.

Rishad, a Harvard Business School and London School of Economics graduate, has very big shoes to fill at Wipro. Rishad has done multiple gigs in the company while the transition that was on expected lines and set in motion over a decade ago. Premji exuding confidence in his son said, “Rishad brings to this role new ways of thinking, broad experience, and competence that will lead Wipro to greater heights. He is also completely committed to the values which form the bedrock of Wipro.”

In an extraordinary innings of 5 decades, he transformed a small cooking oil company that his father started in 1945 into a $25 billion market cap global IT powerhouse. Premji said this year marks the 75th year of creating value for Wipro stakeholders. "Wipro was established in 1945. It is an important milestone and we have pride in how Wipro has grown as an exemplar of a successful, ethical and a socially responsible organisation," he said.

The outgoing chairman said he has always believed in Mahatma Gandhi's dictum that we must remain 'trustees' of our wealth for society, not its owners. He noted that he has irrevocably renounced more of his personal assets and earmarked them to the endowment that supports the Azim Premji Foundation's philanthropic activities. The total value of the philanthropic endowment corpus contributed over time is £15 billion, which is 67% of the economic ownership in Wipro.

Premji said it’s quite clear that climate change is one of the greatest challenges that human-kind has ever faced. “It is equally clear that businesses must fully contribute to tackling this challenge. Wipro has led the business community on climate action over the past decade. This year, we have significantly scaled up the use of renewable energy for our operations, which now contributes 40% of our total consumption. Recycled water now contributes to 42% of our total water usage,” he said.


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