Wipro Limited is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology services, consulting and business process services. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, it is one of the largest IT services companies in India and operates across more than fifty countries. The company is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India, and its American Depositary Receipts trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
| Name | Wipro Limited |
|---|---|
| Industry | Information technology, consulting, business process services |
| Founded | 29 December 1945 |
| Founder | Mohamed Premji |
| Headquarters | Doddakannelli, Sarjapur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
| Chairman | Rishad Premji |
| Listings | BSE, NSE, NYSE |
| Country | India |
Wipro was originally established as Western India Vegetable Products Limited in Amalner, a town in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. It began as a manufacturer of vegetable and refined oils under brand names such as Sunflower Vanaspati. After the death of its founder Mohamed Premji in 1966, his son Azim Premji, then a student at Stanford University, returned to India and took over the company at the age of 21.
Under Azim Premji's leadership the company diversified beyond vegetable oils into consumer products, lighting, hydraulic cylinders and, most significantly, information technology. The name was shortened to Wipro in the late 1970s as the company entered the computing hardware business, taking advantage of the exit of IBM from India in 1977.
Wipro's services span IT consulting, application development and maintenance, cloud and infrastructure services, cybersecurity, business process services, engineering services and digital transformation. The company serves clients across banking and financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, retail, communications and the public sector. Its corporate campus on Sarjapur Road in Bengaluru is among the largest IT campuses in India.
Apart from the listed IT services entity, the Premji family operates Wipro Enterprises, which houses consumer care (including the Santoor and Chandrika brands), lighting, and the Wipro Infrastructure Engineering hydraulics business. Wipro GE Healthcare, a joint venture with General Electric established in 1990, manufactures medical equipment.
Azim Premji is among the most prominent philanthropists in India. The Azim Premji Foundation, established in 2001, focuses on improving the quality of public school education in India and runs the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru. Premji is also a signatory to the Giving Pledge and has transferred a substantial portion of his Wipro shareholding to the foundation's endowment.
Wipro is regarded as one of the "Big Four" of Indian IT services, alongside Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and HCLTech. The company played a central role in establishing India as a global hub for software services exports during the 1990s and 2000s, and its growth helped shape Bengaluru's emergence as a technology centre.