Under this programme, selected students will receive an annual scholarship of Rs 30,000 for the full duration of their undergraduate course.
Premji, 70, who founded the Azim Premji Foundation, is among the nine philanthropists named recipients of the 2017 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in "recognition of their outstanding and innovative leadership in philanthropy."
The honorary doctor of humane letters degree was conferred on Premji in recognition of his achievements as a 'renowned entrepreneur, global business leader and extraordinary humanitarian who has demonstrated a commitment to education and the well being of fellow citizens,' Wipro said. Premji is the second Indian recipient of this award. Nobel Prize winner Amartya Kumar Sen was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1995.
The Azim Premji Foundation has emerged as a major player in school education across the country.
To have at least one demonstration school in every district.
With the latest action, the value of the philanthropic endowment corpus contributed by Premji is about $21 billion, which includes 67 per cent of the economic ownership of Wipro.
This is the largest philanthropic transfer by any individual in the country.
He is followed by Nandan Nilekani and Narayan Murthy in Hurun India Philanthropy List
IT major Wipro's Azim Premji donated Rs 22 crore a day or Rs 7,904 crore in a year to emerge as the most generous Indian in FY20 and top a list of philanthropy. Premji pipped HCL Technologies' Shiv Nadar, who had earlier topped the list collated by Hurun Report India and Edelgive Foundation, by a wide margin.
Premji plans to transfer $1.95-billion worth of shares to a trust that will fund social initiatives.
'All of us have a duty to contribute to society. 'The practice of moral leadership will help us in this; it will also help us in business. 'We need to work together to develop the India that we have envisioned in our Constitution - an idea that is equitable, humane and sustainable.'
Azim Premji, chairman of IT major Wipro, was conferred the highest French civilian honour for his outstanding contribution to developing the information technology industry in India, his economic outreach in France, and his laudable contribution to society as a philanthropist through the Azim Premji Foundation and Azim Premji University
The voting rights with the promoter will ensure the interests of the promoter family as well as minority shareholders are protected in future, said corporate governance advocates and corporate lawyers.
Digital, cloud, engineering services, and cybersecurity will drive Wipro's growth. 'Based on approval from the board, we have decided to step up our investments significantly in these four big bets,' Premji said in his last address as executive chairman.
The Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation under whose aegis it is being set up, said on Wednesday the university would launch three courses in the first year of operation, to begin this July.
Premji met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and expressed his intentions to work with the state government in this regard.
The business tycoon, who is also the Chairman of Azim Premji Foundation, has donated 8.7 per cent of the total stock of Wipro from his personal stock-holding for philanthropy in 2010.
IT czar Azim Premji has given away almost half of his stakeholding in Wipro, India's third largest exporter of software services, to philanthropy.
Founders of the Garden City's technology companies are learning the art of patience when it comes to meeting CSR objectives.
The list has been compiled by the Shanghai-based The Hurun Research Institute, the second year it has done this ranking, of an 'India philanthropy list'.
In addition to committing $2 billion to his own foundation, the Azim Premji Foundation, the billionaire has become the first Indian to sign up for the Giving Pledge run by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.
'The possibility of Nitish Babu continuing at least for some time is very much there, but don't rule out the artistic possibility of a leadership change executed very elegantly.'
'This election was won because of Nitish Kumar's face and his policies.'
Wipro, the software to vanaspati maker, has effected key management changes to drive the company in the next phase of growth.
In a step towards complying with the new shareholding norms on promoter holdings, the Azim Premji Foundation said it would sell 35 million shares of Wipro through an auction route, opening on Wednesday.
In one of the biggest donations by a business family in India, the family of Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani on Thursday committed to donating Rs 60,000 crore (around $7.7 billion) to various charities related to health care, education, and skill development. The commitment has been made to mark Gautam Adani's 60th birthday on Friday as well as the birth centenary year of his father Shantilal Adani. The corpus will be administered by the Adani Foundation. "At a very fundamental level, [programmes] related to all these three areas should be seen holistically and they collectively form the drivers to build an equitable and future-ready India.
To start with, the foundation is coming up with two schools in Noida and Gurgaon.
Philanthropic contributions made by India's ultra high networth individuals (net wealth of over Rs 1,000 crore), also known as UHNIs, have fallen sharply to Rs 4,230 crore in FY22, from Rs 11,821 crore the previous financial year, according to the India Philanthropy Report 2023 by Dasra and Bain & Co, which was released on Wednesday. The report says that the dramatic fall, almost by a third, was due to the fact that contributions by the Azim Premji Foundation dropped by Rs 9,000 crore due to a share buyback of Wipro, which helped the foundation to access liquidity directly. However, the report laments that even excluding the Premji Foundation's contribution, "Indian UHNI contribution has not kept pace with wealth creation" and is "below par, with a 5 per cent contraction in FY2022".
Premji is ranked 13th on Forbes' first ever list of '100 Richest People In Tech', followed by Nadar on the 14th spot.
In new year message, Sikka warns staff of automation, Premji talks of Wipro's core values
The initiative deepens N/Core's multi-year partnership with tech giant Cisco, which has participated in the fund along with Ford Foundation and IRB Infrastructure.
Nadar and his family donated Rs 826 crore, while Azim Premji gave Rs 453 crore and Ambani parted with Rs 402 crore, according to the Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2019.
'Wealthy Indians don't give as much as Americans because they believe they must leave their wealth to their children.'
India's billionaires are pledging a decent amount of their wealth for the welfare of society.
The company will significantly increase its rate of patent filing.
Indian industry's doyen Jamsetji Tata has emerged as the biggest philanthropist globally in the last century by donating $102 billion, as per a list of top-50 givers prepared by Hurun Report and EdelGive Foundation.' Tata, the founder of what has now become a group spanning interests from salt to software, is ahead of others like Bill Gates and his now estranged wife Melinda who have donated $74.6 billion, Warren Buffet ($37.4 billion), George Soros ($34.8 billion) and John D Rockefeller ($26.8 billion), the list showed.
Additional levy to eat into Rs 6,000-crore income of top promoters
'Abid Neemuchwala has demonstrated a deep understanding of technology, business vision, sound judgment, and an innate ability to bring people together.'
This makes him corporate India's biggest donor to society.
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