Azim Hashim Premji, an Indian business tycoon, investor and philanthropist, who is the chairman of Wipro Limited and informally known as the Czar of the Indian IT Industry. Wipro is India’s third largest exporter of software services and IT products. Azim Premji is the first Indian to sign the ‘Giving Pledge’ which is an effort to make the world’s wealthiest persons donate half of their wealth to charitable organizations and social causes.

Azim Premji always used to say that the wealthy people should contribute their earnings for such activities. He has pledged and given away an additional 18 percent of his stake in the IT Company for charity, 39 percent of the stake (worth Rs 53,284 crore) for a charitable trust. This 39 percent of his company’s shares are given for funding education.

“Over the past fifteen years, I have tried to put this belief into action through my personal philanthropic work. Over these years I have irrevocably transferred a significant part of the shareholding in Wipro, amounting to 39 per cent of the shares of Wipro, to a Trust (of which ownership in 21.14 per cent was transferred and for the balance the Trust is entitled to beneficial interest of dividends and sale proceeds),” Mr. Premji said.

“For us, this is the driving force in the form of our values and is something that we will continue to remain completely committed to,” he added. The company’s Social and Sustainability Initiatives are driven by the conviction that corporations should play a significant role in contributing to building a better society, Mr. Premji said.

“The owners individuals or other entities of such corporations can do a lot more for society because they can choose to exercise the right of their ownership, and invest their wealth in any social cause, to their utmost,” he said. He said the Trust supports the work of The Azim Premji Foundation and Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative and thus a very significant part of the value created by Wipro, goes towards social causes.