Azim H Premji

Biography

Azim H Premji is the Chairman of the Board and Managing Director (designated as “Executive Chairman”) of Wipro Limited and has been at its helm since the late 1960s, turning what was then a small cooking fat company into a $ 8.5 billion revenue group with businesses in IT, Consulting and Business Process Services with a presence in over 60 countries. Mr. Premji also serves as a director of Wipro Enterprises (P) Limited, Wipro GE Health Care Private Ltd., and in other entities of the promoter group. Mr. Premji has established the Azim Premji Foundation, which is focused on improving public school education, working directly in six states of India which have over 350,000 schools. The Foundation also runs the not-for-profit Azim Premji University, focused on programs in education and related fields of human development. He has also set up the Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, through which impactful non-profits working in a few chosen fields including nutrition and support to vulnerable groups, are given multi-year grants. Over the years, Mr. Premji has received numerous honors and accolades, which he considers as recognitions for Team Wipro. Mr. Premji is the first Indian recipient of the Faraday Medal. The Republic of France bestowed upon him the “Legion of Honor” and in January 2011, he was conferred with Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award in India. Mr. Premji has been listed as one of the most influential people in the world by several global publications including Time, Financial Times, Forbes and Fortune. BusinessWeek listed him amongst the top 30 entrepreneurs in world history. Mr. Premji has a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Mr. Premji is the father of Mr. Rishad A. Premji, who is the Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer of the Company.

Research Interest

business