Premji to set up Rs.8846-cr endowment trust

BANGALORE, INDIA: Wipro chairman Azim Premji on late Wednesday announced that he would set up a new endowment trust with a whopping Rs.8,846 crore (Rs.88.5 billion) to fund various social initiatives.

"The endowment trust will be set up with funds raised by transferring 213 million equity shares of mine in Wipro Limited, which have a current market value of Rs.8,846 crore," Premji said in a statement here. The transfer will take place on December 7.

"The trust will utilise the endowment to fund various social, not-for-profit initiatives, which are expected to scale significantly over the next few years," the statement said.

Since its inception in 2001, the Azim Premji Foundation (APF) set up by Premji has worked in rural India to help improve the quality of education, with its programmes touching 25,000 schools and over 2.5 million children over the years.

"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," Premji added.