Azim Premji and his son Rishad Premji have been reappointed to the Wipro board for next 5 years. For those who are unaware, Wipro is currently one of the leading IT firms in India with a market cap of more than Rs 236000 crore. The Wipro board of directors have reappointed Azim Premji as non-executive, non-independent director and his son Rishad Premji as executive chairman. While people know Azim Premji as one of the most generous men in India who used to be richer than Mukesh Ambani, not many know about his sons. To recall, Azim Premji and family donated more than Rs 1774 crore last year, as per EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2023. Just like Azim Premji, his son Rishad Premji is also spearheading Wipro to new heights.
Rishad joined Wipro in 2007 and worked in several roles before becoming Executive Chairman in 2019. Azim Premji handed over the reins of the multinational company to his son Rishad Premji after taking the company to new heights for around 53 years. With An MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in economics from Wesleyan University in the US, Rishad Premji served as a Chairman of NASSCOM for the financial year 2018-19. He is now the Executive Chairman of Wipro Limited which has more than 250,000 employees in six continents.
Rishad Premji recently received Wipro shares worth Rs 250 crore from his father Azim Premji as a gift. Currently staying in Bangalore with his wife and two kids, Rishad Premji took a massive pay cut that nearly halved his annual earnings from the previous year. The Wipro Chairman took a compensation of less than 8 crore ($951,353) in the financial year 2022-23. Rishad reportedly opted for a voluntary pay cut in the view of the negative performance at Wipro’s IT services business. During the Covid-19 pandemic in the year 2019-20, Rishad opted for a 31% pay cut. Rishad is also on the boards of Wipro Enterprises Limited, Wipro-GE and the Azim Premji Foundation.
