Azim Premji's charitable trusts among the richest in India
The two trusts are Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives Pvt. Ltd and Azim Premji Trusts. The earnings of these two foundations go into the Azim Premji Endowment Fund, which in turn releases money for philanthropic projects.
Moneycontrol News
Two philanthropic trusts run by Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro Ltd, earned Rs 11,357 crore or $1.65 billion over the past nine years through dividends, share sales and buybacks, making it two of the richest and largest charitable trusts in India.
The two trusts are Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives Pvt. Ltd (APPI) and Azim Premji Trusts (APT). The earnings of these two foundations go into the Azim Premji Endowment Fund (APEF), which in turn releases money for philanthropic projects. APEF is now one of the largest private endowments in the world, valued at Rs 1.45 lakh crore or $21 billion, Mint reported.
The report states that the fund received nearly Rs 2,100 crore by way of dividends between March 2010 and March 2018 from Wipro. Almost Rs 1,494 crore were earned by selling Wipro shares in March 2010, March 2012, and earlier this month. It received Rs 1,963 crore and Rs 5,800 crore, respectively, through a company's buyback in July 2016 and December 2017. Wipro also issued bonus shares to both trusts in June 2010, June 2017 and March 2019.
The endowment fund was valued at $5 billion at the end of January 2015 to $21 billion as of March 13, 2019. How much of this amount has been spent is not clear yet.
The billionaire philanthropist Premji set up APPI in 2001 to help government school teachers develop the necessary skills to teach. Wipro gave an initial endowment of shares worth $125 million. In 2009, the foundation was first termed as one of the 11 promoter entities.
Last week, Premji made India's largest donation, transferring 34 percent economic ownership of his shares in Wipro worth $7.5 billion to APPI and APT. The foundations are now present in over 40 districts across six states. The APEF, apart from scaling up these two foundations, give grants to NGOs and founded the Azim Premji University.
Anurag Behar is the co-chief executive officer of the foundation, along with Dileep Ranjekar.
Nearly 14 percent of the promoter's shareholding in Wipro is owned by APEF. The endowment also has economic ownership or the right to receive all money earned from 53 percent of promoter shares.
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