Azim Premji raises philanthropy bar with ₹1.45 trillion total pledge
MUMBAI: Azim Premji, India’s second-richest man, on Wednesday gave away 34% of his shares in Wipro Ltd to charitable causes, confirming his status as the most philanthropic Indian.
The shares given away by Premji—a man known for his frugal ways—are valued at about $7.5 billion.
With the latest contribution, the total value of funds committed by the billionaire to Azim Premji Foundation’s philanthropic activities is ₹1.45 trillion ($21 billion). This includes a 67% economic ownership of Wipro, the foundation said on Wednesday.
Premji inherited his father’s vegetable oil company and transformed it into a global software powerhouse. One of the world’s richest men, Premji still flies economy class, avoids costly cars and ostentatious displays of wealth.
In terms of philanthropic contributions in the country, Premji is ahead of others by a distance. Although India has seen a rise in individual donations of late, contributions of ₹10 crore or more account for more than half of individual philanthropy and Premji’s donations alone account for more than 80% of this.
The Premji foundation, set up in 2001, works to improve access to primary education in India, including some of its most disadvantaged parts. Premji’s philanthropic initiatives also help in improving the lives of street children and the disabled. The foundation also runs the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru.
“Azim Premji’s philanthropic activities have an overarching vision to contribute to developing a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society in India. To enable this vision, the Azim Premji Foundation works directly in education and supports other not-for-profits working in some specific areas through multi-year financial grants," the foundation said in a press statement.
India’s super wealthy households, or those with a net worth of over $50 million in India, are expected to double in both volume and wealth from 160,600 households with a total net worth of ₹1.53 trillion in 2017, to 330,400 households with a combined net worth of ₹3.52 trillion in 2022. But a vast majority of them inherit their wealth and prefer to leave their money to family.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
