Known as the “software king” of India, Wipro Limited Chairman – billionaire Azim Premji chooses to live like an anonymous middle-class person.
Billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong’s SM Green will ‘launch’ in Southeast Asia’s largest economy in December
The trillion-dollar bridge connecting the ‘billionaire island’ with the center of Hai Phong City, to be inaugurated in 2025, is taking shape.
Editor’s note:
Despite their fame and large fortunes, many billionaires still choose to live a simple life. They are willing to spend large sums of money on charity, but they tighten their personal spending to the point of austerity.
Lesson 1: American billionaire is frugal with himself, preparing his own lunch to bring to the office
Lesson 2: Billionaire in the world’s richest family drives one car for 15 years
According to financial consulting site MyBankTracker, with an estimated net worth of $16.2 billion, the billionaire born in 1945 still drives an old Toyota. However, it is considered a step up from the old, worn-out Ford Escort that the billionaire once favored. The lifestyle of the Indian IT tycoon is also very different, as he enjoys eating chocolate day and night, as well as experiencing street food whenever he travels.
He is also very careful about his spending. He is famous for tracking the number of toilet paper rolls used by employees in Wipro’s IT facilities. He chooses to fly economy class, buys used cars, and reminds employees to turn off the lights in the office when not in use.
Indian billionaire Azim Premji. Photo: Fortune India
But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been generous. He’s donated tens of millions of dollars to charities, and founded a university and a foundation to create more well-paying jobs for Indians. He believes that if he’s going to spend money, it should go to a bigger purpose.
Mr. Premji is one of India’s most prominent and respected business leaders. He was named one of the 30 greatest global entrepreneurs of all time by Business Week and named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time. What is most remarkable is the way he uses his wealth to improve the lives of the less fortunate.
While studying electrical engineering at Stanford University in the US, Mr. Premji had to drop out to take over the company after his father’s sudden death in 1966. This was the beginning of a spectacular transformation from a $2 million cooking oil manufacturing company to a multi-business Wipro corporation, continuously generating billions of dollars in revenue each year.
In other words, he was one of the pioneers in developing the IT sector in India, and taking it to the world.
Not only did Mr. Premji recruit top software talent, he also provided them with world-class training to further their knowledge. From there, Wipro developed high-quality software at significantly lower costs than its American competitors, and began exporting to major countries.
Billionaire Azim Premji’s family. Photo: Financial Express
By 1999, Wipro had become the second largest IT company in India. Business Week once praised Mr. Premji as the greatest entrepreneur of all time for turning Wipro into one of the fastest growing companies in the world. Currently, Wipro is the third largest IT exporter in India, operating in 55 countries with 108,000 employees, and revenue of about $6 billion/year.
In 2001, the billionaire founded the non-profit Azim Premji Foundation to improve the quality of primary education in rural areas across India.
In 2019, he donated another 34% of Wipro shares worth nearly 530 billion rupees ($7.5 billion) to his foundation, bringing his total donation to $21 billion, including 67% of Wipro shares. According to Bloomberg, this is the largest chari