Wipro Bangalore

Led by Chairman Azim Premji, to whom the company's fabled transformation is credited, Wipro has evolved from a moderately sized commodity company founded in pre-independent India, to one of the world’s largest information technology companies, employing over 88000 people.

Established in 1945, Wipro, then known as Western India Vegetable Products Limited, was an edible oil factory that manufactured Sunflower vanaspati (oil) and soap. When 21 year old Azim Premji took over the company from his father in 1966, the hydrogenated cooking fat company was worth Rs 790 lakh (US $2 million).

On October 18, 2000 Wipro became the first Indian IT company to debut on the New York Stock Exchange. With over 80 offices worldwide, its workforce of highly skilled professionals is drawn from more than 49 countries and services more than 700 clients around the globe. Wipro is the largest provider of outsourced R&D services and is among the top three offshore BPO service providers. With technology driven solutions, it constantly aims to be 'future active'.

Premji himself is a Forbes favourite, having been ranked 60th in the list of billionaires with a net worth of Rs 51403 crore (US $12.7 billion). In 2004, Time magazine listed him among the 100 Most Influential People in the world and Fortune cited him as one of the 25 Most Powerful Business leaders outside the US in 2003. Premji takes this all in his stride and says, "You should dare to dream, define what you stand for, never lose your zest and your curiosity, always strive for excellence, perservere, have a broader social vision and finally never let success go to your head.”

Complete transparency and honesty in transactions are values Premji imbibed from his father. The company he helped build is amirror image of these very values. Integrity and sensitivity are balanced with a desire to excel and win.

Since it diversified into IT in 1980, Wipro counts among its clients the biggest names in manufacturing, embedded and product engineering, energy and utilities, travel and transportation, telecom and retail spaces. The company's IT services are designed to help organisations improve their business. The wide range of product engineering solutions give customers an identity in the market, differentiating them from the competition. Wipro's Technology Infrastructure Services, with crucial insights into customers’ business strategies provide solutions in architecture, strategic consultation, network consultation, storage management and IT integration.

Named among the 25 Most Innovative Companies in the world by BusinessWeek, Wipro is also the world's first PCMM Level 5 software company and the world's first IT services company to use Six Sigma.

Being a formidable player in the IT space is just one face of Wipro. Premji strongly advocates partnership between industry, the government and educational institutions in the development of the country. He fulfils his end of the bargain with the personally funded Azim Premji Foundation, a non-profit organisation. The Foundation engages more than 3.2 million children in over 17000 schools across India, a feat which earned it the recognition as the Corporate Citizen of the Year 2006 by the Economic Times.

The rainbow-hued sunflower logo of Wipro, together with its credo of ‘applying thought’ is indicative of the company's multi-faceted approach to business, and its ability to metamorphose on the basis of its greatest strength, innovation.