Premji, Azim

▪ 2001

      One of the world's richest men (The Sunday Times of London, in its “Rich List 2000,” ranked him third in March) was virtually unknown outside his own country. That man, Azim Premji, was chairman of the Wipro Corp., a Bangalore, India-based conglomerate. Thanks to wild increases in technology stocks, Wipro's value had skyrocketed in the late 1990s. The surge, however, was much more than simply the result of outside forces inflating the value of the company. Wipro was once a modest family-owned cooking-oil-producing concern, but Premji had transformed it into an information technology powerhouse. Eschewing Indian industrial tradition, he ventured out of the country's protected economy and into the global marketplace. Whereas traditionally most fortunes in India were based on ownership of land and factories used to produce domestically consumed goods, Premji's wealth was derived from the value of Wipro's stock and the firm's success in foreign markets. The company's market capitalization rose from $67 million in 1990 to more than $4 billion in early 2000. Although Wipro's value slipped later in the year, Premji remained among the world's richest entrepreneurs. In October American Depository shares of Wipro made a modest debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

      Azim Hasham Premji was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on July 24, 1945. That same year his father founded Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd., which produced vanaspati, a widely used hydrogenated shortening. Three years later colonial India was partitioned into mainly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, but the Premjis, a Muslim family, chose to remain in India. Premji had nearly completed his degree in engineering at Stanford University in 1966 when his father died unexpectedly. The son returned to India to take the reins of the family business and immediately began to diversify, delving into consumer products such as soap, shoes, and lightbulbs as well as hydraulic cylinders. The company was renamed Wipro in 1977.

      Premji's big break came in 1979 after IBM was asked to leave the country, a protectionist move by the Indian government that would ultimately lead to Wipro's success in the global market. Premji steered Wipro toward the computer business. Wipro established a number of successful international partnerships in the 1980s to help it build computer hardware for sale in India, but it was software development that made the firm so lucrative. Premji built a reputation for hiring the best people and providing them with unparalleled training, and he took advantage of India's large pool of well-educated software developers who were willing to work for much less money than their American counterparts could demand. Wipro concentrated on developing custom software for export, primarily to the U.S.

      Despite his vast personal wealth, Premji was known for his modesty and lack of extravagance. He preferred to fly economy class, and he drove an economy car that did not have its own special parking space at Wipro headquarters. His reputation was that of a highly ethical entrepreneur whose operation stood as a model for other Indian firms.

Anthony G. Craine

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