Premji’s trusts grow richer on dividends, share sales
NEW DELHI: Billionaire Azim Premji’s two philanthropic trusts earned ₹11,357 crore ($1.65 billion) over the past nine years by way of dividends, share sales and buybacks, becoming one of the richest and largest charitable trusts in India.
The earnings of the two trusts—Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives Pvt. Ltd or APPI (earlier called Azim Premji Foundation) and Azim Premji Trusts or APT—go into the Azim Premji Endowment Fund. The fund, which releases money for all philanthropic work done by the two trusts, is now valued at ₹1.45 lakh crore or $21 billion, making it one of the largest private endowments in the world.
Between March 2010 and March 2018, the fund received ₹2,100 crore in dividends from Wipro Ltd, according to Mint research. It received ₹1,494 crore by selling Wipro shares in March 2010, March 2012, and earlier this month. It also received ₹1,963 crore and ₹5,800 crore, respectively, when it sold shares back to Wipro under the company’s two share buybacks in July 2016 and December 2017.
The trusts also received bonus shares issued by Wipro in June 2010, June 2017 and March 2019.
It is not clear how much of the ₹11,357 crore earned by the endowment has been spent over the past nine years. A spokesperson for APPI declined to comment.
The value of the endowment fund has surged over the last four years: from $5 billion at the end of January 2015 to $21 billion as of March 13, 2019.
Premji set up the foundation in 2001 to help train teachers so that students could be taught better in government schools.
An initial endowment of Wipro shares worth $125 million was given to the foundation.
Eight years later, in the quarter ended September 2009, the foundation was first classified as one of the 11 promoter entities. It then held 0.5% of the promoter’s 79.68% ownership in Wipro.