Azim Premji $2.3b gift, India’s largest-ever philanthropic donation

BANGLORE: Giving more to philanthropy, IT czar Azim Premji on Friday announced transfer of 295.5 million equity Wipro shares worth Rs12,300 crore held by certain entities controlled by him, to an irrevocable trust.

The trust will utilise the endowment to fund, various social, not-for-profit initiatives of Azim Premji Foundation, which are expected to scale significantly over the next few years, the statement said.

With this transfer, the trust's shareholding in Wipro will go up to about 19.93 per cent, according to a statement issued by the Foundation here. The 295.5 million shares of Wipro Ltd represent around 12 per cent stake. Azim Premji is also Chairman of Azim Premji Foundation.

On February 19, Premji had announced he would commit more of his wealth to philanthropy, as his Foundation scales up work to improve equity and quality of the primary education system in the country.

The business tycoon had donated 8.7 per cent of the total stock of Wipro from his personal stock-holding for philanthropy in 2010. This had formed the endowment for the Foundation. In a letter for the first international "Giving Pledge", group, he said the Foundation currently has 800 people spread across the country: most of whom are working for the betterment of some of the most disadvantaged regions of the country, and others at the Azim Premji University.

The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2001 with an overarching goal to create and sustain initiatives to contribute to a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society, it said. The Foundation has worked largely in rural India, often in close partnership with various state governments, to help contribute to the improvement of quality and equity of school education, the statement said. Currently, the Foundation's work is spread across Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, it said.