Interview with Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Ltd at New York Stock Exchange

Talk News India brings you a podcast interview with Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Ltd, from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wall Street. Mr. Premji and Mr. Suresh Senapaty, CFO, rang the closing bell at NYSE this evening. Others who witnessed the ceremony included Catherine Kinney, President and co-COO of NYSE; John Thaim, COO, NYSE; Sudeep Banerjee; President, Enterprise Solutions, Wipro; Sridhar Ramasubbu, Investor Relations-US; Timothy Matlack, and CEO, Consulting Services, Wipro.

The occasion marks the fifth year since Wipro listed at NYSE, and earlier in the day the company held its 2006 Analyst Meeting.

The closing bell ritual is about 10 years old explained an NYSE media person. The room where the bell is rung is about 100 years old. The bell is rung at precisely 4.00 pm and it is a 10 second event. In fact, it was a bit of an anti-climax when the bell rang. I think you get a better sense when you this 10-second event on TV.

This was the fourth time that Mr. Premji rang the closing bell at the NYSE. "And, all four times we took the market up," commented Mr. Premji with a smile.

Afterwards Mr. Premji came to the members gallery and spoke to the media, where he answered question about Davos, Outsourcing trend etc.

(Mr. Premji a low-keyed billionaire rarely gives interviews. He took over his family's business when his father unexpectedly died in 1966. At that time he was studying Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, California, and did not get to complete his studies. The company has grown and expanded to offer BPO and IT services, and is today the third largest IT company in India.)

Wipro is focussed on non-linear growth commented Mr. Premji. Focussing purely on linear growth could eventually become a challenge he said. Recently Wipro acquired two companies, one in the US, and the other in Europe he said. While he resisted on giving any kind of figures on growth he did that the company plans to do better than the industry forecast of 28%.

Recently General Motors announced a $15 billion outsourcing deal, and has already awared 50% of the deal to various vendors including Wipro. When asked if he expects to bag any further order from GM all he would say is, "No comments."

Mr. Premji has been on the road for the past few weeks and attended the World Economic Forum event at Davos. "I think India put a very good show," he said. He specifically mentioned the bhangra dance event on the last night, and said that from 11.30 pm to 5.00 am about 500-600 Americans and Europeans were out on the dance floor dancing to bangra music. "It completely stood out in warmth...in comparison to China," he said.

He said that India has about 65% share of the outsourcing market currently, and expects to earn about $23 billion this year from outsourcing according to Nasscom and MacKenzie. He however cautioned that India needs to stay one step ahead of emerging competition from China and East Europe. Wipro recently opened offices in Beijing, China and Bucharest, Romania he said.

Besides me, others who asked Mr. Premji questions included Swapna Vora, Lalith Jha of Indian Express, Uttara Choudhary of Daily News and Analysis, Abha Singh and Anita Ghai Malhotra.

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