Azim Premji pledges to donate huge chunk of his wealth to charity

Bangalore: The third richest Indian is giving it away in charity. At a time when crores are bungled and tucked away in Swiss accounts, Wipro chairman Azim Premji becomes the first Indian to sign up for the Gates-Buffet International Giving Pledge.

On February 25, 2009, Azim Premji had said, "Whatever you can financially contribute, please contribute and nothing is enough...so please don't draw a line...when you can contribute more, please contribute more."

And Premji has certainly walked the talk. At current market value, he is worth around Rs 87,000 crore. It is not clear how much he will donate, but Premji has set a trend in the culture of giving.

Premji said he would commit more of his wealth to his foundation to scale up operations by five times.

In 2010, he gave 8.7 per cent of his shares to the Azim Premji Foundation that focuses on improving quality of primary education. Now on Tuesday, in signing up for the pledge, Premji said he would commit more of his wealth to his foundation to scale up operations by five times.

The gesture has stuck a chord with the people of Bangalore. Even corporate heads like Nasscom president Som Mittal have appreciated the decision taken by the Wipro chairman.

Premji says he learnt the art of giving from his mother. Hope there are more corporates who will say wealth is to used for the betterment of society and not just own it.

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