(Image source from: Livemint)

India’s second richest man chairman of Wipro Limited, Azim Premji, on Wednesday gave away 34 percent of his shares in Wipro Ltd to charitable causes, cementing his status as the most philanthropic Indian.

According to a statement, he has earmarked the economic benefits of shares worth Rs 52,750 crore, for his foundation involved in philanthropy. With this, the total value of the endowment corpus, which supports Azim Premji Foundation's philanthropic activities, contributed by Premji has swelled to a staggering Rs 1.45 lakh crore, which includes 67 percent of economic ownership of Wipro Ltd, it said.

"He has done this (contribution) by additionally earmarking all economic benefits for philanthropic purposes, in approximately 34 per cent of the shares in Wipro Limited (current market value Rs 52,750 crore), held by certain entities controlled by him," according to the statement by the Azim Premji Foundation.

The current donation adds to his earlier donations to philanthropy, which included Wipro's shares, as well as other possessions owned by him.

The Azim Premji Foundation, a non-profit organization, works in education in the country and supports other not-for-profit organizations working in some specific areas through multi-year financial aids.

"The Foundation's extensive field work in education has been in some of the most disadvantaged parts of India, to help contribute to the improvement of quality and equity of the public (government) schooling system," it added.

The Azim Premji Foundation has also set up the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru. Currently, the foundation works in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and the northeast region.

The activities of the foundation are expected to increase significantly over the next few years, the statement said adding that a university in the northern part of India may be set up by the Foundation at some point.

By Sai Kumar