Azim Premji

Azim Premji
Born	Azim Hashim Premji 24 7, 1945
Birthplace	Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Founder Chairman of Wipro
Known for	Transforming Wipro into a global IT company; philanthropy in Indian education
Education	B.S.E., Stanford University
Children	2
Awards	Padma Vibhushan (2011)
Website	[[azimpremjifoundation.org azimpremjifoundation.org] Official site]

Azim Hashim Premji (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian billionaire businessman and philanthropist who served as the chairman of Wipro Limited, transforming it from a small vegetable oil company into one of the world's largest information technology services firms. Born in Bombay during the final years of British India, Premji took over the family business at the age of 21 following his father's death, and over the subsequent five decades built Wipro into a multinational corporation with operations spanning dozens of countries. He was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek in 2010, and Time magazine named him among the 100 most influential people in the world in both 2004 and 2011. Premji has been regularly listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims. In recognition of his contributions to trade and commerce, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Vibhushan, the nation's second-highest civilian honour, in 2011. Beyond business, Premji has devoted substantial personal wealth to education reform in India through the Azim Premji Foundation, and in 2013 became the first Indian to sign The Giving Pledge, committing to donate at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes.

Early Life

Azim Hashim Premji was born on 24 July 1945 in Bombay (now Mumbai), in the Bombay Presidency of British India. He was born into a prominent Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslim family with roots in business and public life. His father, Mohamed Hashim Premji, was a noted businessman who founded Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd. in 1945 — the company that would later become Wipro. The elder Premji was a respected figure in Indian business circles; it has been documented that Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, invited Mohamed Hashim Premji to migrate to the newly formed nation during Partition in 1947, an offer that was declined.

Growing up in Bombay, Premji was exposed to the operations of the family business from an early age. The company initially manufactured cooking oil under the brand name "Sunflower Vanaspati," and also produced soap and other consumer products based on vegetable oils. This modest enterprise, rooted in India's consumer goods sector, bore little resemblance to the global technology corporation it would eventually become under Azim Premji's stewardship.

The defining moment of Premji's early life came in 1966, when his father died unexpectedly. Azim Premji was just 21 years old at the time and was studying engineering at Stanford University in the United States. He made the decision to return to India immediately to take charge of the family business, interrupting his university education to assume the role of chairman of Western Indian Vegetable Products. This early assumption of responsibility — a young man in his early twenties taking command of a mid-sized consumer goods company — set the stage for one of the most remarkable corporate transformations in Indian business history.

Education

Premji attended St. Mary's School in Mumbai (then Bombay) for his early education, before enrolling at Stanford University in California, United States, where he pursued a degree in electrical engineering. His studies at Stanford were interrupted in 1966 when he returned to India upon his father's death to take over the family business. Premji later completed his Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.S.E.) from Stanford, finishing the degree that he had left incomplete decades earlier.

In addition to his Stanford degree, Premji has received several honorary doctorates in recognition of his contributions to business and education. The University of Mysore conferred an honorary doctorate upon him. He also serves as the Chancellor of Azim Premji University in Bangalore, a private university established by the Azim Premji Foundation that focuses on education and development.

Career

Early Leadership of Wipro

When Premji returned to India in 1966 to lead Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd., the company was primarily a manufacturer of hydrogenated cooking oils and laundry soap. At just 21, Premji faced the challenge of managing a company in a highly competitive consumer goods market. Under his early leadership, the company diversified its product lines, expanding into bakery fats, ethnic ingredient-based toiletries, hair care products, baby care products, lighting products, and hydraulic cylinders, among other areas.

Premji demonstrated an early aptitude for identifying new market opportunities and was willing to take the company into unfamiliar territory. Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, Western Indian Vegetable Products evolved from a single-product company into a diversified conglomerate. The company was renamed Wipro Products Limited and subsequently Wipro Limited, reflecting its broadened scope of operations.

Transformation into an IT Company

The pivotal strategic shift that would define Premji's career came in the late 1970s and 1980s, when he steered Wipro into the nascent information technology sector. The departure of IBM from India in 1977, following the Indian government's insistence that foreign companies reduce their equity stakes in Indian subsidiaries under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, created a vacuum in the Indian computer hardware market. Premji seized the opportunity, moving Wipro into the manufacture of minicomputers and later into software services.

Under Premji's direction, Wipro began manufacturing hardware in collaboration with an American company, Sentinel Computer Corporation, and later developed its own range of computers. As the Indian IT industry began to grow in the 1980s and accelerate through the 1990s, Premji positioned Wipro to capitalise on the global demand for software development and IT services outsourcing. The company began to offer software development, systems integration, and IT consulting services to clients around the world.

The 1990s and early 2000s saw Wipro's most dramatic period of growth. India's economic liberalisation, which began in 1991, opened the economy to global competition and created favourable conditions for export-oriented IT services companies. Wipro, under Premji's leadership, expanded aggressively into international markets, establishing delivery centres and sales offices across North America, Europe, and Asia. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange, further raising its international profile.

Growth into a Global IT Leader

By the early 2000s, Wipro had established itself as one of India's leading IT services companies, alongside Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. The company offered a comprehensive range of IT services, including application development and maintenance, business process outsourcing, consulting, and product engineering services. Wipro served clients across industries including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, and retail.

Premji's management style was characterised by a focus on quality, operational efficiency, and ethical business practices. Wipro became one of the first Indian companies to receive the SEI-CMM Level 5 certification, the highest level of process maturity for software development organisations. This emphasis on quality standards helped Wipro win contracts with major multinational corporations and established its reputation as a reliable technology partner.

BusinessWeek included Premji in its list of the 30 greatest entrepreneurs of all time, recognising the scale and significance of Wipro's transformation under his leadership.

Transition and Succession

In the later years of his career, Premji began to transition leadership responsibilities at Wipro to the next generation. His son, Rishad Premji, joined Wipro and took on increasingly senior roles within the company. Azim Premji stepped down from the role of executive chairman but retained his position as a non-executive member of the board and founder chairman, continuing to provide strategic guidance to the company he had led for over five decades.

Under Premji's tenure, Wipro grew from a $2 million hydrogenated cooking oil company into a multi-billion-dollar global IT services corporation with over 200,000 employees operating in more than 50 countries. This transformation — from vegetable oils to world-class software — is frequently cited as one of the most remarkable corporate reinventions in modern business history.

Philanthropy

Azim Premji Foundation

Premji established the Azim Premji Foundation in 2001 with the stated mission of improving the quality of education in India, particularly in rural and underserved communities. The foundation works with state governments across India to improve public school systems, focusing on teacher training, curriculum development, school leadership, and assessment reform.

The foundation's approach centres on systemic change in education rather than individual school-level interventions. It operates field institutes in multiple Indian states and works directly with government schools and education departments. Over the years, the foundation has expanded its geographic reach and deepened its engagement with the Indian education system.

Major Donations

Premji has made several landmark philanthropic commitments over the course of his career. In 2010, he pledged to transfer a significant portion of his Wipro shares to the Azim Premji Foundation, becoming one of India's largest individual philanthropic donors. He subsequently increased his contribution, gifting an additional 18 percent of Wipro's equity to his philanthropic endowment.

In 2013, Premji became the first Indian to sign The Giving Pledge, the philanthropic commitment created by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates that asks billionaires to dedicate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes. His initial commitment included a donation of $2.2 billion to the Azim Premji Foundation, focused on education in India. He has topped the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List on multiple occasions, reflecting the scale of his charitable giving.

Azim Premji University

As an extension of his philanthropic work in education, Premji established Azim Premji University in Bangalore. The university was set up by the Azim Premji Foundation and focuses on education, development, and related fields. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes with an emphasis on preparing students for careers in education and social development. Premji serves as Chancellor of the university.

In February 2026, the university's campus in Bengaluru was the site of a vandalism incident in which a group of approximately 20 individuals forced entry onto the campus, damaging property and assaulting security personnel. The university condemned the incident and called for an investigation. Eighteen activists from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) were subsequently taken into preventive custody by police in connection with the incident.

Personal Life

Azim Premji is known for his understated personal lifestyle, which contrasts with the wealth he has accumulated over his career. Despite being one of the wealthiest individuals in India and the world, he has been widely noted in media profiles for his frugality and avoidance of conspicuous consumption.

Premji has two sons, including Rishad Premji, who has been involved in the operations of Wipro. The Premji family belongs to the Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslim community, and Premji has been regularly listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world.

In October 2023, Forbes estimated Premji's net worth at approximately $11.6 billion, though the precise figure fluctuates with the share price of Wipro and his ongoing philanthropic transfers of equity to the Azim Premji Foundation.

Recognition

Azim Premji has received numerous awards and honours from governments, academic institutions, and media organisations over the course of his career.

In 2011, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his contributions to trade and industry.

Time magazine named Premji among the 100 most influential people in the world in both 2004 and 2011. In 2010, Asiaweek voted him among the 20 most powerful men in the world. BusinessWeek included him in its list of the 30 greatest entrepreneurs of all time, highlighting the transformation of Wipro from a consumer goods company into a global technology firm.

Premji has received honorary doctorates from several universities. The University of Mysore conferred an honorary doctorate upon him in recognition of his achievements in business and philanthropy.

Forbes has consistently ranked Premji among the wealthiest individuals in India and the world. In the 2009 Forbes billionaires list, he was listed as one of India's richest people.

Legacy

Azim Premji's legacy is primarily associated with two achievements: the transformation of Wipro and the scale of his philanthropic commitment to Indian education.

The corporate transformation of Wipro under Premji's leadership is one of the defining stories of India's emergence as a global technology powerhouse. Taking a small vegetable oil company and building it into one of the world's largest IT services firms required sustained strategic vision and adaptability across economic cycles, technological shifts, and the evolution of the global outsourcing industry. Wipro's growth paralleled and contributed to the broader rise of the Indian IT sector, which became one of the country's most important economic engines from the 1990s onward.

Premji's philanthropic contributions have also left a substantial mark. Through the Azim Premji Foundation, he has channelled billions of dollars toward improving the quality of public education in India, focusing on teacher training, school leadership, and systemic reform rather than narrow interventions. The establishment of Azim Premji University extended this commitment into higher education, creating an institution dedicated to preparing professionals for careers in education and development.

His decision to sign The Giving Pledge — committing to donate the majority of his wealth — and his consistent position atop Indian philanthropy rankings positioned him as a model for large-scale giving in India and among business leaders globally. His approach to philanthropy, focused on long-term institution-building rather than short-term charitable donations, has been noted as distinctive in the Indian context.

Premji's influence extends beyond the specific achievements of Wipro and the Azim Premji Foundation. His career demonstrated that Indian companies could compete on the global stage in knowledge-intensive industries, and his philanthropic model set a precedent for how Indian business wealth could be directed toward addressing systemic challenges in education and development.