Wipro Limited is a $5 billion Indian conglomerate. According to the 2008-09 revenue, Wipro is the second largest IT company in India. Wipro Ltd has interests varying from information technology, consumer care, lighting, engineering and healthcare businesses. Azim Premji is the Chairman of the board.
History
Wipro started as a vegetable oil trading company in 1947 from an old mill at Amalner, Maharashtra, India founded by Azim Premji's father. When his father died in 1966 & Azim, a graduate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, took on the leadership of the company at the age 21. He repositioned it and transformed Wipro (Western India Vegetable Products Ltd) into a consumer goods company that produced hydrogenated cooking oils/fat company, laundry soap, wax and tin containers and later set up Wipro Fluid Power to manufacture hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders in 1975. At that time, it was valued at $2 million[citation needed].
In 1977, when IBM was asked to leave India, Wipro entered the information technology sector. In 1979, Wipro began developing its own computers and in 1981, started selling the finished product. This was the first in a string of products that would make Wipro one of India's first computer makers[2]. The company licensed technology from Sentinel Computers in the United States and began building India's first mini-computers[3]. Wipro hired managers who were computer savvy, and strong on business experience..[citation needed]
In 1980 Wipro moved into software development and started developing customized software packages for their hardware customers. This expanded their IT business and subsequently developed the first Indian 8086 chip[4].
Since 1992 Wipro began to grow its roots off shore in United States and by 2000 Wipro Ltd ADRs were listed on the New York Stock Exchange[5][unreliable source?].
The company's revenue grew by 450% from 2002 to 2007. This success has led to higher salaries (wages have been growing by more than 14% per year since 2005), which puts pressure on the company's margins.
Wipro Technologies deals in following businesses
IT Services: Wipro provides complete range of IT Services to the organization. The range of services extends from Enterprise Application Services (CRM, ERP, e-Procurement and SCM) to e-Business solutions. Wipro's enterprise solutions serve a host of industries such as Energy and Utilities, Finance, Telecom, and Media and Entertainment.
Product Engineering Solutions: Wipro is the largest independent provider of R&D services in the world. Using "Extended Engineering" model for leveraging R&D investment and accessing new knowledge and experience across the globe, people and technical infrastructure, Wipro enables firms to introduce new products rapidly.
Technology Infrastructure Service: Wipro's Technology Infrastructure Services (TIS) is the largest Indian IT infrastructure service provider in terms of revenue, people and customers with more than 200 customers in US, Europe, Japan and over 650 customers in India.
Business Process Outsourcing: Wipro provides business process outsourcing services in areas Finance & Accounting, Procurement, HR Services, Loyalty Services and Knowledge Services. In 2002, Wipro acquiring Spectramind and became one of the largest BPO service players.
Consulting Services: Wipro offers services in Business Consulting, Process Consulting, Quality Consulting, and Technology Consulting.
Wipro's Sister Concerns (Business Units)
Wipro Infrastructure Engineering: It has emerged as the leader in the hydraulic cylinders and truck tipping systems market in India[citation needed].
Wipro Infotech: It is one of the leading manufacturers of computer hardware[citation needed] and a provider of systems integration and infrastructure services in India.Wipro Infotech is more focussed on the manpower services and is not at the cutting edge of technology[citation needed].
Wipro Lighting: It manufactures and markets the Wipro brand of luminaries. Wipro Lighting offers lighting solutions across various application areas such as commercial lighting for modern work spaces, manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies, designer petrol pumps and outdoor architecture.
Timeline
1945 - Incorporation as Western India Vegetable Products Limited[8]
1947 - Establishment of an oil mill at Amalner, Maharashtra, India
1960 - Manufacture of laundry soap 787 at Amalner
1970 - Manufacture of Bakery Shortening Vanaspati at Amalner
1975 - Diversification into engineering and manufacture of hydraulic cylinders as WINTROL (now called Wipro Fluid Power) division in Bangalore.
1977 - Name of the Company changed to Wipro Products Limited
1980 - Diversification into Information Technology
1990 - Incorporation of Wipro-GE medical systems
1992 - Going global with global IT services division
1993 - Business innovation award for offshore development[citation needed]
1995 - Wipro gets ISO 9001 quality certification[9], re-certified twice for mature processes
1997 - Wipro gets SEI CMM level 3 certification, enterprise wide processes defined[citation needed]
Start of the Six Sigma initiative, defects prevention practices initiated at project level.[10]
1998 - Wipro first software services company in the world to get SEI CMM level 5[4]
1999 - Wipro's market capitalization is the highest in India[citation needed]
2000 - Start of the Six Sigma initiative, defects prevention practices initiated at project level. Wipro listed on New York Stock Exchange.[11]
2001 - First Indian company to achieve the "TL9000 certification" for industry specific quality standards[citation needed].
Wipro acquires American Management Systems’ global energy practice.[citation needed]
Becomes world's first PCMM Level 5 company.[12]
Premji established Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organization for elementary education.
Wipro becomes only Indian company featured in Business Week’s 100 best-performing technology companies.[citation needed]
2002
World’s first CMMi ver 1.1 Level 5 company.[13]
Wipro acquires Spectramind.[9]
Ranked the 7th software services company in the world by BusinessWeek (Infotech 100, November 2002)[verification needed].
2003
Wipro acquires Nervewire.[9]
Wipro Technologies Wins Prestigious IEEE Award for Software Process Excellence[citation needed]
Wipro Technologies awarded prestigious ITSMA award for services marketing excellence[citation needed]
Wipro wins the 2003 Asian Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise Award.[citation needed]
2004
Crossed the $1 Billion mark in annualized revenues.[citation needed]
Wipro launches India’s first RFID enabled apparel store[citation needed].
Wipro Technologies named Asian Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise second year in a row[citation needed].
IDC rates Wipro as the leader among worldwide offshore service providers[14]
2005 - Wipro acquires mPower to enter payments space[clarification needed] and also acquires European System on Chip (SoC) design firm NewLogic
2006 - Wipro acquires Enabler to enter Niche Retail market
2008 - Wipro acquires Gallagher Financial Systems[citation needed] to enter mortgage loan origination space.
2009 - Wipro stops Connectivity IP and closes NewLogic Sophia-Antipolis R&D center.
