WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES

Wipro Technologies.
Type Public (NYSE: WIT)
Founded 1945 (Pre Independence)
Headquarters Bangalore
Key people Azim Premji, Chairman and Managing Director
Industry Information technology services
Revenue $3.47 billion USD
Net income $677 million USD
Employees 79,832+ (2007)
Slogan Applied Innovation
Website www.wipro.com


Wipro Tech (NYSE: WIT) is an information technology service company established in India in 1980. It is the global IT services arm of Wipro Limited (in operation since 1945, incorporated 1946). It is headquartered in Bangalore and is the third largest IT services company in India[citation needed]. It has more than 79,832 employees as of December 2007, including its business process outsourcing (BPO) arm which it acquired in 2002.[1]

Wipro Technologies has over 300 customers across U.S., Europe and Japan including 50 of the Fortune 500 companies. Some of its customers are Nortel, Boeing, BP, Cisco, Ericsson, IBM, Microsoft, Prudential, Seagate, Sony, Windriver and Toshiba.[citation needed] It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is part of its TMT (technology media telecom) index testing.

With revenue in the excess of US $3 billion, Wipro is one of India's major IT companies. It has dedicated development centers and offices across India, Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. The current Chairman, Managing Director and majority stake owner is Azim Premji, who has headed the software and hardware divisions since Wipro's inception.

Examples of Wipro's product design work include developing an Internet-browsing phone for a Japanese telecom company in 1998, helping chipmaker Texas Instruments produce digital signal processing software, and creating an automotive display unit for Italian manufacturer Magneti Marelli that combined functions including cell phone capability, global position system technology, a navigation system and a CD player.[citation needed]Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Financials
1.2 Time line
2 References
3 External links


[edit]
History

Headquarters in Bangalore, India

Wipro was set up in 1945. Primarily an edible oil factory, the chief products were Sunflower Vanaspati and 787 laundry soap (a by-product of the Vanaspati operations). The company was called Western India Vegetable Products Limited; it had a minor presence in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.[2][3] In the 1970s and 1980s, it began to expand and made forays into computing. In 1975, Wipro marketed India's first homegrown PC.

Wipro was the sole representative for Sun Microsystems in India, before the Sun liaison office was set up in India, in the early 1990s.

Wipro is the highest-ranked Indian IT provider by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals.[citation needed]

Wipro and its success in handling outsourced information technology from US businesses is detailed in Thomas L. Friedman's best-selling book The World Is Flat and Steve Hamm's Bangalore Tiger. Wipro's offshore model is considered 'unique among the larger players in the security consulting space' according to an independent report by Forrester Research

[edit]
Financials

Wipro posted a net profit of Rs. 7.3 billion and growth of 17% in the Q1 2007-08. Staff strength crossed 73,000.

[edit]
Time line
1945: Western India Vegetable Products Limited is created
1947: An oil mill and hydrogenated cooking medium plant set up
1966: Azim Premji takes over leadership of Wipro at age 21
1975: Wipro Fluid Power is set up to manufacture hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders
1977: Company is renamed to Wipro Products Limited
1980: Information technology services for domestic market started
1981: Hardware company is launched
1982: Company is renamed to Wipro Limited
1984: Software products subsidiary Wipro Systems Ltd. is established
1985: Toilet soaps manufacture begins
1988: Wipro BioMed is launched. It is a new business unit to market and service bio-analytical and diagnostic instruments
1989: Joint venture with GE for medical systems, Wipro GE Medical Systems Ltd
1990: Product software business discontinued; software services begin
1992: Lighting business and finance arm is established
1994: Merger of subsidiaries Wipro Technologies Ltd. and Wipro Systems Ltd. with Wipro Ltd.
1995: Received ISO 9001 quality certification
1997: Received CMM level 3 certification from the Software Engineering Institute of India
1998: Wipro identity is relaunched with rainbow flower and positioning statement, "Applying Thought"
1998: Certified at CMMi level 5
1999: Brand makeover, with sunflower logo and the tag line "Applying Thought"
1999: Wipro Net is set up by restructuring Wipro Ltd.'s communication services business to address the Internet market
2000: Wipro Ltd.'s American depositary receipts are listed on New York Stock Exchange
2000: Six Sigma initiative begun
2001: Wipro receives a $70 million SI order, the largest ever till overtaken by TCS
2001: Awarded the PCMM level 5 certification
2001: Business Today rated it as India's most valuable company
2001: BusinessWeek ranked it among the top 100 best performing technology companies globally
2002: Acquires Raman Roy's Spectramind for US$ 175 million to get into BPO industry
2002: BusinessWeek ranked it among the top 10 software services companies
2004: Becomes 4th largest company in the world in terms of market capitalization in IT services
2005: Becomes a $2 billion company
2006: Becomes the world's largest R&D service provider[citation needed].
2006: Acquires Saraware, a wireless R&D service provider from Finland
2006: Acquires Quantech, a mechanical engineering design provider
2006: Acquires Enabler, a leading retail solutions provider from Portugal
2006: Joint venture company WMNetServ with Motorola
2006: Net profit for July, August and September rises 48% to $152m (£81m)
2007: Revenues reach $3.5billion[4]
2007: Becomes SOX Compliant.
2007: Wipro-Biomed Division sold to Ranbaxy Fine Chemicals [1]
2007: Wipro opens new development center in Monterrey, Mexico
2007: Acquires U S based Infocrossing


The Information Technology 100
23
Wipro
Coming off its strongest year since 2000, Wipro grew at 43% in 2004. The company has branched out from offerings such as software development, R&D, and applications maintenance to providing remote infrastructure management, financial services, and applications and product testing. All that while maintaining its position as the world’s largest third-party R&D provider. Wipro, which gets the majority of its revenue from the U.S., is pushing further in Europe and expects to make some acquisitions there this year. At home, the company’s back-office operation, Wipro BPO, got a jolt when Chief Executive Raman Roy quit in early June to start another business. The $150 million operation, mostly call-center work, will move into higher-end back-office jobs such as insurance processes in order to achieve greater profitability and to stem the high employee attrition to new foreign players.
Company Info STOCK INFO WIT
Revenues* $1.9 BILLION
Revenue Growth 39.2%
Return on Equity 27.9%
Total Return 41.4%
Profits* $363 MILLION
Industry SERVICES
CORPORATE WEB SITE

All figures are for the most recent available 12 months.

* Latest available data for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, Jan. 31, Feb. 29, Mar. 31, or Apr. 30. For companies that do not report quarterly, the most recent annual data were used.


Data provided by Standard & Poor's Compustat, BusinessWeek

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Company Snapshot
Wipro Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides IT services worldwide. It offers software solutions, IT consulting, business process outsourcing services, and research and development services in the areas of hardware and software design. The company operates in three segments: Global IT Services and Products, India and AsiaPac IT Services and Products, and Consumer Care and Lighting. The Global IT Services and Products segment provides IT services to customers in the Americas, Europe, and Japan. The India and AsiaPac IT Services and Products segment operates in the Indian IT market and offers IT products and services to the companies in India, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East region. Consumer Care and Lighting segment engages in the manufacture and sale of consumer care and lighting products. The consumer care products include soaps and toiletries, baby products, talcum powders, and hydrogenerated cooking oils. The lighting products include light bulbs, flourescent tubes, and luminaries. Wipro Limited was founded in 1945.The company is headquartered in Bangalore, India.
No. of Employees
NA