Information technology czar Azim Premji foresaw on Friday emergence of a two-party system in the country, saying the recent Lok Sabha polls verdict was an indication to that effect. Addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry-organised fifth India Innovation Summit 2009 in Bangalore, he said the results of the recent Parliamentary elections suggested that Indian voter wants a two-party system.
"We are selectively looking at acquisitions it will be a string of smaller ones," Wipro chairman Azim Premji told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani continues to top India's richest list, according to the Hurun India Rich List 2014.
Among Indian IT outsourcing companies, Wipro is the first company to give a flat to 2 per cent growth expectation for the July-September 2009 (third) quarter. Joint CEOs Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani spoke to Bibhu Ranjan Mishra on the company's growth path.
Wipro chief Azim Premji on Tuesday said the company is looking at acquisition of $50-100 million companies abroad.
Reacting to media reports of a Karnataka High Court notice to him for allegedly encroaching government land, Azim Premji, chairman of Bangalore-based Wipro, said he had returned the said portion in 2007.
An MBA from Harvard Business School, Rishad, 32, joined the company almost two years ago as a business manager in the Banking and Finance division, which was then headed by Girish Paranjpe, the present joint CEO of the company's IT business. During his stint with GE Capital, Rishad was working in the treasury. Industry analysts say that Wipro is adhering to corporate standards, by treating the chairman's son at par with other employees.
India is also short of about a thousand colleges.
Wipro, has set up a venture capital (VC) fund that will look at investing in early-to-middle stage technology start-ups globally.
Others in the top 10 include Uday Kotak at the 6th place with a wealth of Rs 94,100 crore, Cyrus S Poonawalla at 7th position with Rs 88,800 crore assets, Cyrus Pallonji Mistry at 8th spot with a wealth of Rs 76,800 crore, Shapoor Pallonji at 9th position with a net worth of Rs 76,800 crore and Dilip Shanghvi at 10th slot with Rs 71,500-crore wealth.
IT major Wipro's chief Azim Premji on Friday cautioned the industry that competition globally is hotting up and warned the sector against falling into a mind trap of 'India Advantage'.
In one case, the folks at SWAN discovered that of the Rs 1,500 they'd transferred as relief in the account of a stranded worker, the bank had deducted Rs 800 as penalty for not having minimum balance!
Model Asif Azim of Bangladeshi origin will enter the house today.
It is understood that the company is hiring more local people in overseas markets for front-end sales and support roles. It is having more locals as client managers in key areas like the US and Europe.
Ravi stood on top of the podium, with a scintillating show in the 57kg.
"We see that as a next emerging opportunity. We are positioning ourselves very strongly," Wipro chairman Azim Premji told reporters in Bangalore. He noted the IT sector, whose size was small 20 years ago, had grown substantially and constituted some 27 per cent of the country's exports and some 4-5 per cent of its GDP, indicating that green technologies holds similar business potential.
Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin's son Asaduddin took his first major steps in his cricketing career when he was on Friday named in the Uttar Pradesh One Day squad for the forthcoming Vijay Hazare trophy.
The investors, which include ICICI Venture, Azim Premji and ICICI Prudential, say that they do not hold more than 38 per cent in the retail company and do not have the requisite shareholding to amend the articles. ICICI Venture, which alone holds 23 per cent stake in Subhiksha, had earlier rubbished claims made by Subramanian that the private equity company 'controls' Subhiksha by virtue of its right to appoint a majority of the directors in the company.
"Despite many obstacles, the Indian IT sector is growing stronger. However, innovation is the key driver of growth. There should be innovation in products, research and development, technology, organisational structure, business model and processes. Indian companies should follow this model to remain successful," he said delivering the keynote address of the Freescale Technology Forum in Bangalore.
Billionaire businessmen Mukesh Ambani and Azim Premji will be meeting US President Barack Obama on Friday.
Wipro's scrip jumped 2.97 per cent to Rs 468.50 on the NSE.
This transaction was done by Premji's personal investment entity Zash Investments Limited. The stake was bought from ICICI Ventures, a private equity arm of ICICI Bank, sources said. Subhikha Managing Director R Subramanian was not available for comment.
Tamil Nadu registered an eight-wicket win in their last Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament
Premji said, Wipro is not feeling the "effects" of the eurozone crisis.
India's third largest software company Wipro on Thursday said they are hopeful of some signs of recovery in the second half for the IT outsourcing services sector.
Flipkart's co-founders Sachin and Binni Bansal made their debut at 86th position with a net worth of $1.3 billion each.
A Muzaffarnagar court on Wednesday issued warrants against a Bahujan Samaj Party MLA and his brother, accused of raping and forcefully confining 48 circus artists from Nepal. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sumit Chandra issued the bailable warrants against BSP MLA from Bulandshahar Mohammed Azim and his brother Mohammed Yunus.
R C Bhargava, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw & Dinesh K Sarraf are other members of the business delegation
The deal values the stock exchange at $3.3 billion.
IT major Wipro's promoter Azim Premji is investing Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million) to acquire a significant minority stake in a company floated by Jagdish Khattar, former managing director of Maruti Suzuki India who has recently turned entrepreneur.
Business leaders met Manmohan Singh to discuss the problems facing the country.
As the global economic downturn takes toll on pay packets, Indian IT major Wipro's chief Azim Premji seems to be leading by example as he has taken a cut of about 10 per cent in his annual compensation.
"Built on what was a series of islands, the city's historic downtown core is particularly vulnerable," the NYT said.
The cases reported on Wednesday include a couple and their two-year-old daughter in Rajasthan who had recently returned from Italy. The patients belong to Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu and had returned from Italy on March 8.
In the financial year 2007-08, Premji received a whopping $328,556 towards his annual compensation package. This included $107,701 as salary and allowances, $127,621 towards compensation and incentives, $35,298 for housing and $41,895 towards the long-term compensation, the company told the Securities and Exchange Commission in its annual filing.
Azim Premji that the company is looking at fiscal 2009 with cautious optimism, given the rapidly changing market situation which has a bearing on its immediate business dynamics. Wipro is also bullish on its India and Middle East geographies to deliver turbocharged growth riding on the investments in these markets. Girish Paranjpe said most of its clients are expected to spend more on IT in the second half of the current calendar year compared to the first one.
Recently, IT czar Azim Premji bought a 10 per cent stake in Subhiksha through his personal investment arm for nearly Rs 230 crore, valuing the retailer at Rs 2,300 crore. Premji's firm purchased this stake from ICICI Venture. However, this time around, Subhiksha promoters are expected to issue fresh equity to investors and expect the valuation to be around Rs 3,800 crore, sources said.
Hours after World Bank made public that Wipro has been debarred from doing any business with the global lender, the company's chairman Azim Premji wrote to its over 1,00,000 employees saying that the company had not done anything unethical.
Wipro Chief Azim Premji has cautioned US on the shortage of IT professionals in the country and has asked the business fraternity there to take up this problem urgently.