Wipro Ltd.
Company Background
Wipro is India's third-largest information technology company. Like its rival Indian IT service providers, Wipro is a major IT business that operates around the world. The company has over 150,000 employees across the world, and posts about 80% of its sales outside India.
Wipro's beginning was very different to other major Indian IT companies. It started as a vegetable oil producer in 1945. Azim Premji, the company's current chairman, became the head of the company in 1966 following the sudden death of his father. Under his leadership, Wipro broadened into other areas of business. The company entered the IT industry in the 1980s. It gradually shifted its emphasis from hardware production to offshore software development, building its foundation as a major IT company.
Premji owns the majority of the company's shares. Non-IT businesses, including hydraulic cylinder manufacturing and household product operations, are currently managed by Wipro Enterprises, a group company.