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Premji 11th in FT list of 'billionaires with heart'
BS Bureau in New Delhi |
November 15, 2004 12:51 IST
Wipro chairman Azim Premji is the only Indian (ranked 11th) in the Financial Times list of the top 25 dollar billionaires who are doing the most to shape the world.
The FT's special report on the super-rich has listed nearly 600 dollar billionaires around the globe and has named the top 25 "who are changing the way people live".
The paper estimates Premji's net worth at $6.7 billion, and says he has done much to change the structure of international business and ultimately affect people's lives by winning in the global IT market. Jack Welch, former chief executive of GE, says Premji "does business straight, eyeball to eyeball".
"Some call him the Indian Bill Gates. But if the anti-offshoring protesters wanted to find a bogeyman in him they would have to look elsewhere. Premji is modest and reticent, not a belligerent business leader.
"The comparisons with Gates don't end at software: Premji's charitable foundation works with Gates'. Premji's does more work on education in poor rural areas, giving $5 million a year, while Gates has made health a priority," the paper says.
The list is headed by Microsoft's Bill Gates, with an estimated net worth of $46.6 billion. Also includes media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Soros Fund Management chief George Soros, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Intel Chairman Emeritus Gordon Moore.