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Wipro Limited

Wipro Logo
Type	Public
Traded as	BSE: 507685 NSE: WIPRO NYSE: WIT BSE SENSEX Constituent
Industry	IT services, IT consulting
Founded	Amalner, Maharashtra (December 1945)
Founder(s)	M.H. Hasham Premji
Headquarters	Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Azim Premji (Chairman)
Services	IT, business consulting and outsourcing services
Revenue	US$ 7.30 billion (2012)[1]
Operating income	US$ 1.25 billion (2012)[1]
Profit	US$ 1.09 billion (2012)[1]
Total assets	US$ 8.55 billion (2012)[1]
Total equity	US$ 5.60 billion (2012)[1]
Employees	119,491 (2012)
Divisions	Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Wipro GE Medical Systems Limited Wipro Technology Services Limited
Website	www.wipro.com

Wipro Limited (formerly Western India Products Limited) (BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO, NYSE: WIT) is an Indian global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of 2012, Wipro is the second largest IT services company by turnover in India.^[1] It provides outsourced research and development, infrastructure outsourcing, business process outsourcing (BPO) and business consulting services. The company operates in three segments: IT Services, IT Products, Consumer Care and Lighting. It is 9th most valuable brand in India according to an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010.^[2] Wipro has other business interest particularly consumer goods, health care and engineering. Wipro Technology has announced the launch öf its first iPhone corporate app "Wipro Buzz".^[3]

History[link]

The company was established in 1945 by Mohamed Hasham Premji as Western India Products Limited, later abbreviated to Wipro. It was initially set up as a vegetable oil manufacturer in Amalner, Maharashtra, producing sunflower Vanaspati oil and soaps. ^[4][5] The company logo still contains a sunflower to reflect their original business.

In 1966, Azim Premji, aged 21 at the time, took over as chairman of the company, and started the changes that over time transformed Wipro into one of the largest IT outsourcing services provider of the world.^[6] Along with a small number of shareholders, Azim Premji is a major shareholder in Wipro.^[7] During the 1970s and 1980s, the company shifted its focus and began to look into business opportunities in the IT and computing industry, which was at nascent stages in India at that time. Thanks to the public sector ECIL Hyd, WIPRO could garner the experienced set of people in one lot from ECIL like Dr.Laxman Rao,Sridhar Mitta,Venkatesh,Sadhasivam etc to get a kick start. Wipro marketed the first indigenous homemade PC from India in 1985.

By 2000, Wipro Technologies emerged as the largest publicly listed software exporter in India and the first software services provider to be assessed at SEI Level 5 in the world.^[8]

Wipro won the Golden Peacock Innovative Service Award^[9] for effective service delivery using state of art technology in 2001.

Wipro was awarded SVG1, the highest rating in Stakeholder Value Creation and Governance Practices by ICRA, a premier credit rating agency in India and an associate of Moody’s Investor Services of USA.^[10]

Wipro was awarded the India Manufacturing Excellence Award for its factory in Pondicherry in the large enterprises category by Frost & Sullivan.^[11]

Wipro was awarded the ASTD BEST Awards for 2005 by the American Society of Training and Development.^[12]

Wipro's Global Command Centre won the Marico Foundation and Business World's Innovation for India Award in 2006. The conglomerate was rated as the No.1 Network Integrator and No.1 Network Security Services Provider by Voice & Data Magazine.^[13]

Wipro was ranked 37 in The Brand Trust Report among the most trusted brands in India.^{[citation needed]}

Wipro BPO[link]

Founded in 2002, Wipro BPO has operations in Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Navi-Mumbai (Belapur) Greater Noida, Mysore and Kochi in India. It also has offices in Bucharest and Timisoara in Romania (Europe), Shanghai and Cebu in Asia and Curitiba in Brazil and Warsaw and Katowice in Poland. Wipro BPO employs over 22,000^{[citation needed]}, of whom 3,150 are at its Hyderabad campus. The majority of Wipro BPO’s business comes from the United States, followed by Europe^{[citation needed]}. The rest of the world contributes only marginally to its top line. The company posted a turnover of $290 million in FY08. It has 44 clients in segments such as banking & capital markets, insurance, travel & hospitality, hi-tech manufacturing, telecom and healthcare.^{[citation needed]}

Wipro divisions[link]

The group companies of Wipro Limited.

• Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting (WCCLG):- It has a profitable presence in the branded retail market of toilet soaps, hair care soaps, baby care products and lighting products. WCCLG is also a leader^{[clarification needed]} in institutional lighting in specified segments like software, pharma and retail.

• Wipro Infrastructure Engineering:- It is generally known for manufactures precision-engineered hydraulic cylinders and truck hydraulic solutions for the infrastructure and related industries. It the second largest independent Hydraulic Cylinder manufacturer in the world.

• Wipro GE Medical Systems Limited:- It is a Joint venture between Wipro Limited and General Electric basically delivering what it calls "quality solutions that effectively meet the needs of customers and patients". Its products and services range from diagnostics to IT, helping healthcare professionals combat cancer, heart disease and other ailments.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• List of software companies in India
• Fortune India 500
• List of companies of India

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wipro

• Official website
• Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting
• Wipro Infrastructure Engineering
• Wipro GE Medical Systems Limited
• Wipro at Wikinvest

Companies portal

v t e BSE SENSEX companies of India As of 19 March 2012: Airtel Bajaj Auto BHEL Cipla Coal India DLF HDFC HDFC Bank Hero MotoCorp Hindalco HUL ICICI Bank Infosys ITC Jaypee Group Jindal Steel & Power KEC International L&T Mahindra & Mahindra Maruti Suzuki NTPC ONGC Reliance Industries SBI Sterlite Industries Sun Pharma Tata Motors Tata Power Tata Steel TCS Wipro

v t e S&P CNX Nifty companies of India As of 19 March 2012: ACC Bajaj Auto BHEL Bharat Petroleum Bharti Airtel Cipla Dabur Dr. Reddy's Laboratories GAIL GlaxoSmithKline Grasim Industries Gujarat Ambuja Cements HCL Technologies HDFC HDFC Bank Hero MotoCorp Hindalco Industries HLL Hindustan Petroleum ICICI Bank Indian Petrochemicals Infosys ITC Limited Jet Airways L&T MTNL Mahindra & Mahindra Mahindra Satyam Maruti Udyog National Aluminium Company NIIT ONGC Oriental Bank of Commerce PNB Ranbaxy Laboratories Reliance Communications Reliance Infrastructure Reliance Industries Siemens SBI SAIL Sun Pharmaceutical Suzlon TCS Tata Motors Tata Power Tata Steel VSNL Wipro Zee

Azim Hashim Premji
Azim Hashim Premji at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2009
Born	(1945-07-24) 24 July 1945 (age 66) Bombay Presidency, British India [1]
Residence	Bangalore, India[2]
Nationality	Indian
Ethnicity	Kutchhi
Alma mater	Stanford University (dropped out 1966, completed 1999)[2]
Occupation	Chairman of Wipro
Net worth	US$ 15.9 billion (2012)[3]
Religion	Islam
Spouse	Yasmeen
Children	Rishad, Tariq[4]
Signature	150px
Website
Azim Premji

Azim Hashim Premji (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the chairman of Wipro Limited, guiding the company through four decades of diversification and growth to emerge as one of the Indian leader in the software industry. According to Forbes, he is currently the third wealthiest Indian, and the 41st richest in the world, with a personal wealth of US$15.9 billion in 2012.^[3][5] In 2000, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine, once in 2004 and more recently in 2011.^[6] Premji owns 79 percent of Wipro and also owns a private equity fund, PremjiInvest, which manages his $1 billion personal portfolio.

Early life and career[link]

When Azim Premji took over as its head, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats and later diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products, and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to software.^[7] The Amalner-based vanaspathi manufacturing company, the Western India Products later became Wipro Products Ltd and Wipro Limited subsequently. Under Premji’s leadership Wipro embarked on an ambitious phase of expansion and diversification. The Company began manufacturing light bulbs with and other consumer products including soaps, baby care products, shampoos, powder etc.

In the 1980s Wipro entered the IT field, taking advantage of the exit of IBM from the Indian market in 1975. Thus, Wipro started manufacturing computer hardware, software development and related items, under a special license from Sentinel. As a result, the $1.5 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats grew within a few decades to an over $6 billion diversified, integrated corporation in services, medical systems, technology products and consumer items with offices worldwide. The company’s IT division became the world's first to win SEI CMM level 5 and PCMM Level 5 (People Capability Maturity Model) certification, the latest in quality standards. A large percentage of the company’s revenues are generated by the IT division. Wipro works with leading Fortune 500 companies. Wipro also has a joint venture in Medical Systems with General Electric company.^[1]

Wipro Consumer Care launched brands like Santoor^[8] and the Wipro Shikakai^[9] in 1986; Santoor Talc^[10] and Wipro Baby Soft^[11] in 1991; Santoor Facewash,^[12] Wipro Sanjeevani Honey^[13] and Wipro Safewash^[14] in 2004; Santoor Handwash^[15] in 2006; Wipro Sweet 'n' Healthy^[16] and Chandrika Handwash^[17] in 2007 and Santoor Deo^[18] in 2010.

Wipro Consumer Care acquired brands like Glucovita^[19] in 2003; Chandrika^[20] in 2004; North West^[21] in 2006; Unza^[22] in 2007; Enchanteurand Romano^[23] in 2008 and Yardley^[24] in 2009 and Aramusk in 2011.

Azim Premji founded Wipro Lighting^[25] and Wipro GE Medical Systems in 1991; Wipro Net^[26] in 1999; netKracker^[27] in 2000; Wipro Water in 2008; and Wipro EcoEnergy in 2009.

Personal life[link]

Azim Premji is married to Yasmeen.The couple have two children, Rishad and Tariq. Rishad is married to Aditi and is currently the Chief Strategy Officer of IT Business, Wipro.^[28]

Honours and awards[link]

Premji has been recognized by Business Week as one of the Greatest Entrepreneurs^[29] for being responsible for Wipro emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing companies. In 2000, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

In 2006, Azim Premji was awarded Lakshya Business Visionary by National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai.^[30]

He was awarded a Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.), an honorary degree, from the Aligarh Muslim University on the 18th of June 2008 on the occasion of 58th Convocation Ceremony of the University.

In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut for his outstanding philanthropic work.^[31] In 2005 the government of India honored him with the title of Padma Bhushan for his outstanding work in trade and commerce.

In 2011, he has been awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award by the Government of India.^[32]

Philanthropy[link]

Wipro Equity Reward Trust[link]

In 1984, Azim Premji established the Wipro Equity Reward Trust^[33] to allow employees to acquire stake in Wipro's success and growth. The WERT, which is administered by a Board of Trustees is designed to give eligible employees the right to receive restricted shares and other compensation benefits at the stipulated times and conditions. Such compensation benefits include voluntary contributions, loans, interest and dividends on investments in the WERT and other similar benefits. Shares from the WERT are issued in the joint names of the WERT and the employee until such restrictions and obligations are fulfilled by the employee. After a four-year period, complete ownership of the shares is transferred to the employee.

If employment is terminated by death, disability or retirement, his or her restricted shares are transferred to the employee’s legal heirs or continue to be held by the employee, as the case may be, and such individuals may exercise any rights to those shares for up to 90 days after employment has ceased.

Azim Premji Foundation and university[link]

In 2001, he founded Azim Premji Foundation, a non-profit organization, with a vision to significantly contribute to achieving quality universal education that facilitates a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. The Foundation works in the area of elementary education to pilot and develop 'proofs of concept' that have a potential for systemic change in India's 1.3 million government-run schools. A specific focus is on working in rural areas where the majority of these schools exist. This choice to work with elementary education (Class I to VIII) in rural government-run is a response to evidence of educational attainment in India.

In December 2010, Premji pledged to donate $2 billion for improving school education in India. This has been done by transferring 213 million equity shares of Wipro Ltd, held by a few entities controlled by him, to the Azim Premji Trust. This donation is the largest of its kind in India.

The Azim Premji University was established under an act of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to run programmes to develop education and development professionals, offer alternative models for educational change and also invest in educational research to continuously stretch the boundaries of educational thinking. Currently the university conducts three degree awarding programmes:

• Masters in Development,
• Masters in Education,
• Masters in Teacher Education^[34]

The Continuing Education Programme aims to transform existing talent in the fields of education and development. The programme is facilitated by the University Resource Centre which provides learning content and capacity building programmes for professionals in education and development through short-term certified courses.

The URC is being developed with a view to conduct relevant and meaningful research into the education system, especially in India. These researches shall be in a manner that facilitates proactive reforms to the existing education system.

See also[link]

• List of billionaires

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Azim Premji

• Profile at Wipro
• Azim Premji on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Azim Premji in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Profile at Forbes
• Azim Premji collected news and commentary at The Wall Street Journal
• Azim Premji collected news and commentary at Bloomberg News
• Azim Premji collected news and commentary at The Times of India
• Gates, Bill (21 April 2011). "Azim Premji". Time. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066101,00.html. Retrieved October 27, 2007. 
• Smith, David (27 August 2006). "The story of Bangalore Bill". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/aug/27/theobserver.observerbusiness3?INTCMP=SRCH. Retrieved 9 August 2011. 

Charlie Rose
Rose in May 2010
Born	Charles Peete Rose, Jr. (1942-01-05) January 5, 1942 (age 70) Henderson, North Carolina, U.S.
Education	Duke University B.A. (1964) Duke University J.D. (1968)
Occupation	Talk show host Journalist
Years active	1972–present
Notable credit(s)	Charlie Rose, 60 Minutes II, 60 Minutes, CBS News Nightwatch, CBS This Morning
Website
http://www.charlierose.com/

Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. (born January 5, 1942)^[1] is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993. He has also co-anchored CBS This Morning since January 2012. Rose, along with Lara Logan, has hosted the revived CBS classic Person to Person, a news program during which celebrities are interviewed in their homes, originally hosted from 1953 to 1961 by Edward R. Murrow.^[2]

Early life[link]

Rose was born in Henderson, North Carolina, the only child^[3] of Margaret Frazier and Charles Peete Rose, Sr., tobacco farmers who owned a country store.^[4][5] As a child, Rose lived above his parents' store in Henderson and helped out with the family business from age seven.^[6] Rose admitted in a Fresh Dialogues interview that as a child his insatiable curiosity was constantly getting him in trouble.^[7] A high school basketball star, Rose entered Duke University intending to pursue a degree with a pre-med track, but an internship in the office of Democratic North Carolina Senator B. Everett Jordan got him interested in politics.^[8] Rose graduated in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in history. At Duke, he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He earned a Juris Doctor from the Duke University School of Law in 1968.^[6] He met his wife, Mary (née King), while attending Duke.^[3][4]

Career[link]

After his wife was hired by the BBC (in New York), Rose handled some assignments for the BBC on a freelance basis. In 1972, while continuing to work at Bankers Trust, he landed a job as a weekend reporter for WPIX-TV. His break came in 1974, after Bill Moyers hired Rose as managing editor for the PBS series Bill Moyers' International Report. In 1975, Moyers named Rose executive producer of Bill Moyers Journal. Rose soon began appearing on camera. "A Conversation with Jimmy Carter," one installment of Moyers's series U.S.A.: People and Politics, won a 1976 Peabody Award. Rose worked at several networks honing his interview skills until KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth hired him as program manager and gave him the late-night time slot that would become the Charlie Rose show.

Rose worked for CBS News (1984–1990) as the anchor of CBS News Nightwatch, the network's first late-night news broadcast. The Nightwatch broadcast of Rose's interview with Charles Manson won an Emmy Award in 1987.^[4] In 1990, Rose left CBS to serve as anchor of Personalities, a syndicated program produced by Fox Broadcasting Company, but he got out of his contract after six weeks because of the tabloid-style content of the show. Charlie Rose premiered on PBS station Thirteen/WNET on September 30, 1991, and has been nationally syndicated since January 1993. In 1994, Rose moved the show to a studio owned by Bloomberg Television, which allowed for improved satellite interviewing.^[9]

Rose was a correspondent for 60 Minutes II^[10] from its inception in January 1999 until its cancellation in September 2005, and was later named a correspondent on 60 Minutes.^[11]

Rose was a member of the board of directors of Citadel Broadcasting Corporation from 2003 to 2009.^[3] In May 2010, Charlie Rose delivered the commencement address at North Carolina State University.

On November 15, 2011, it was announced that Rose would return to CBS to help anchor CBS This Morning, replacing The Early Show, commencing January 9, 2012, along with co-anchors Erica Hill and Gayle King.

Cameo appearances[link]

Rose has appeared as himself in the 1998 film Primary Colors,^[12] in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons^[13] and in the 2008 movie Elegy.^[14] He and his show were also used in the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums. He also appears as himself in the 2011 George Clooney directed film, The Ides of March.

[edit] Accusations of conflict of interest

While hosting the 2002 Coca-Cola Company shareholders' meeting, Rose said "few companies are able to connect as completely with consumers in the way that Coca-Cola is. It is a privilege to be associated with [The Coca-Cola family] ... This is the business of Coca-Cola: being part of a family, being worldwide, doing well and doing good at the same time."^[15] Afterward, Coca-Cola agreed to become what Rose called "a leading underwriter" of The Charlie Rose Show, paying "six or possibly seven figures."^[16] Even the Charlie Rose mugs used on his PBS show feature a Coca-Cola logo on one side.^[17][18] Although CBS News policy bars correspondents from doing commercials and product endorsements, the Washington Post reported CBS was "comfortable" with Rose's actions. Rose insists he "would never do a story on 60 Minutes II about anybody who underwrites my PBS show."^[16]

[edit] Quiet influence

The New York Times reported that Rose encouraged a discussion between the leaders of NBC and Fox, that led eventually to a mutual reduction in ad hominem attacks between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly on their respective news programs.^[19]

Rose has attended several Bilderberg Group conference meetings, including meetings held in the United States in 2008;^[20] Spain in 2010;^[21] and Switzerland in 2011.^[22] These unofficial conferences hold guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are political leaders and businessmen. Details of meetings are closed off to the public and strictly invitation-only, and critics^[who?] speculate the controversial nature of these meetings of highly influential people. Accusations from conspiracy theorists against The Charlie Rose show claim that it has become the US media outlet for Bilderberg.^{[23][unreliable source?]}

Personal life[link]

Rose's twelve-year marriage to Mary Rose (née King) ended in divorce in 1980. Mary is the sister-in-law of Morgan Stanley Chairman John J. Mack. Since 1993, his companion has been socialite and chairman of the New York City Planning Commission and director of the city department of planning Amanda Burden, a stepdaughter of CBS founder William S. Paley.^[24]

On March 29, 2006, after experiencing shortness of breath in Syria, Rose was flown to Paris and underwent surgery for mitral valve repair in the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital. His surgery was performed under the supervision of Alain F. Carpentier, a pioneer of the procedure.^[25] Rose returned to the air on June 12, 2006, with Bill Moyers and Yvette Vega (the show's executive producer), to discuss his surgery and recuperation.

In a 2009 Fresh Dialogues interview, Rose described his life as "great and glorious."^[7] He added, '"I get up every morning with a new adventure. The adventure is fueled by interesting people. I get a chance to control my own destiny. I do something that is immediately either appreciated or not. I get feedback."

Rose owns a 575-acre (2.33 km²) farm in Oxford, North Carolina, an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City, a beach house in Bellport, New York, an apartment in Washington D.C.^[3] and an apartment in Paris, France.

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (March 2012)

• Charlie Rose Official website of his eponymous show
• Charlie Rose official channel on YouTube
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Charlie Rose at the Internet Movie Database
• Charlie Rose collected news and commentary at the Los Angeles Times
• Charlie Rose collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Charlie Rose at the Notable Names Database
• Charlie Rose shows on Hulu
• celebritynetworth.com, Celebrity Net Worth, Charlie Rose
• Why Business Loves Charlie Rose David A. Kaplan, Fortune, September 28, 2009

TK Kurien
Residence	Bangalore, India
Education	Fellow Chartered Accountant
Title	CEO - IT Business & Executive Director, Wipro Ltd.
Religion	Christianity

T K Kurien (TK) is an Indian chartered accountant. He is the Chief Executive Officer of IT Business and Executive Director, Wipro Limited.^[1] TK is also a member of the Wipro Corporate Executive Council.

Career[link]

Prior to taking over the role as CEO of the IT business, in Feb 2011, Kurien was President of Wipro's recently launched Eco Energy business. In June 2008, he took on the responsibility of heading Wipro's Consulting arm, WCS (Wipro Consulting Services), and spearheaded its growth, establishing it as a distinct offering by Wipro. From 2004 to 2008, TK headed Wipro BPO. In February 2003, he became the Chief Executive of Healthcare & Life Sciences, the new business segment of Wipro Ltd. formed in April 2002 to address the market opportunities in Healthcare and Life Science IT. In his early years at Wipro, TK started the Telecom Internet Service Provider business for which he managed to create a significant impact by accelerating revenue growth.

Before joining Wipro, Kurien served as the CEO of GE X Ray from October 1997 to January 2000 and prior to that was the CFO of GE Medical Systems (South Asia).^{[citation needed]}

Awards[link]

Kurien was awarded the Global BPO Industry Leader award by IQPC (International Quality & Productivity Center) in 2007 for the exceptional performance of Wipro BPO.^[2]

Business Forums[link]

• Nasscom India Leadership Forum, 8-10 Feb 2011 (Speaker) ^[3]
• World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011, Davos, Jan 2011
• Financial Times - Wipro Executive Dinner Forum, Davos, Jan 2011 (Speaker)^[4]

Personal life[link]

Kurien is a Chartered Accountant by qualification. He spends his spare time reading books on history and strategy.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]