Premji pledges $2 billion for education

Bangalore: In the largest act of philanthropy by an Indian, Wipro chairman Azim Premji will give about Rs 8,846 crore ($2 billion) to improve school education in India. Other donations to charitable institutions by any person or corporation in India pale in comparison to this massive endowment which also effectively silences critics who say Indian billionaires are measly donors.
    Premji, India’s third richest man with a net worth of $18 billion, will transfer 213 million equity shares of Wipro Ltd, held by a few entities controlled by him, to the Azim Premji Trust. It will fund educational activities of the Azim Premji Foundation (APF), which works mainly with schools in rural India. He had previously transferred over Rs 700 crore to the APF.
    Premji said more may come in future. “I’m completely committed to supporting the larger ambition of creating the required social change.” 
    The money will be transferred to the trust by next Tuesday and Wipro’s former strategy chief K R Lakshminarayana will be its chief endowment officer. A $2-billion endowment even at a conservative return of 8%- 12% should generate annually returns of $160-250 million (Rs 750-1,150 crore), which will be used to run APF initiatives, including the Bangalore-based Azim Premji University.
    “We believe that good education is crucial to building a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. We want to contribute significantly towards improvement of education in India, and through that towards building a better society,” he said. 
Courtesy: TNN