Azim Hashim Premji, who was called Bill Gates of India, may have been in Pakistan today, but due to his father’s absence, he is today recognized as a veteran IT industrialist and a big donor. Premji’s father Muhammad Hashim Premji was a big businessman and was known as the Rice King of Burma. Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah himself asked Azim Premji’s father to come to Pakistan, but Azim Premji’s father preferred to stay in India, rejecting Jinnah’s request.
Azim Premji was born on 24 July 1945 in Mumbai. Today is Azim Premji’s 75th birthday. Known as the king of the Indian IT industry, Premji, chairman of the legendary IT company Wipro, has carved a distinct identity in the world besides being a business tycoon. He is also a big donor
Asia’s largest charity
According to a report released by Forbes in December 2019, Premji topped the list of Asia’s biggest donors in 2019. According to this Forbes report, Azim Premji donated $ 7.6 billion worth of Wipro shares in 2019 to his foundation dedicated to education. With this, the total amount donated by him in his lifetime had reached $ 21 billion. According to the report, Azim Premji Foundation and University do many things in more than two lakh government schools across the country like trending teachers and providing better courses.
In the fight against Coronavirus, Premji has also donated money with both hands open. They are among the highest donors in this fight. Premji has donated about one thousand crore rupees in this fight. Earlier in April 2013, Premji said that he had donated more than 25 percent of his personal wealth. In July 2015, he donated an additional 18 percent of his stake in Wipro.
Being rich does not make you feel thrilled
Premji says that he has not felt any thrill from being rich. Premji once said in a program, “I have become more involved in philanthropic work for the last one year. As much as I am watching this, it only seems that how complicated it is. Without money, how can you keep a person happy and how much praise you get from social service, you cannot say in words.
At the same time, Premji said, “I strongly believe that those of us who have the privilege of having wealth should contribute significantly in creating a better world for millions of people and striving for it, Are less privileged. ” Premji says that philanthropy is more difficult than running a company.
Premji is the first Indian to join Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ campaign The Giving Pledge. He is the third non-American after Richard Branson and David Sainsbury to join the campaign. With the spirit of philanthropy, Premji founded the Azim Premji Foundation and University in 2001.
Software made in soap maker
Azim Premji’s father Muhammad Hashim Premji founded the Western Indian Vegetable Products Limited in the year 1945, which we now know as Wipro. Ajim Premji lost his father at the age of 21. At that time, Premji was studying engineering at Stanford University. After leaving his father, Premji left his studies and came to India and took over the company in the year 1996. Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd. used to manufacture edible oils and laundry soap under the brand name Sunflower Vegetable, known as 787.
After Premji’s arrival, the company also started producing bakery, toilet products, hair products, and children’s items. Subsequently, with the move of IBM from India in the 1980s, the importance of the space in the IT sector was understood by Azim Premji and converted Western Indian Vegetable Products Limited to Wipro and started making software instead of soap in the company.
Padma Bhushan honored
Azim Premji has been included in the list of 100 Most Influential People twice by Time magazine and was named among the 20 most powerful men in the world in 2010 by Asiaweek. In 2005, the Government of India honoured Premji with the Padma Bhushan Award for outstanding work in the field of trade and commerce.
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