Posted on 07/22/2005 2:57:55 PM PDT by samsonite
Pune, July 22: When someone who’s worth around Rs 40,000 crore wants to build a house, what does he do? India’s richest man and software major Wipro’s chairman Azim Premji has opted for the common man’s route—go for a loan.
A small one-line footnote buried in page 191 of the company’s annual report for year-ended March 31, 2005, released today, spelt it out. It said that the annual compensation includes ‘‘a subsidy of $4,808 (approximately Rs 2.07 lakh) to Azim H Premji, for interest payments on his independent housing loan.’’
The loan in question is for his palatial farmhouse next to the Wipro office in Bangalore’s Sarjapur.
Premji receives an annual salary of Rs 2.4 crore—including commissions which amounts to 0.1 per cent of Wipro’s net profit—and his company’s market capitalisation totals nearly Rs 47,100 crore in which he holds 83.11 per cent stake.
But then Premji was never known for his ostentatious ways—he prefers economy class travel and has gone on record defending his sense of thrift. ‘‘We are not a five-star organisation. We are a three-star organisation in terms of living style. It is not the way we travel. It is not the way we spend. It is an important part of our culture. We have to run tight shifts. We cannot run tight shifts with a five-star culture,’’ he has said.
When contacted, a Wipro spokesperson was unable to provide details of the loan, but said the loan was mentioned in last year’s report, too. ‘‘It is difficult to get anyone to give information on the day that a company has its board meeting and the day before it has to announce its earnings,’’ she said.
$4,000? - hell that's my councilman's budget for one month supply of blow
One crore is a 10,000,000...
The guy's amazing, really. Started out with selling vegetable oils. Went up to become a multi-billionaire!
Live mid-market rates as of 2005.07.23 00:25:43 UTC.
1.00 INR
India Rupees = 0.0230097 USD
United States Dollars
1 INR = 0.0230097 USD 1 USD = 43.4600 INR
Rs.40,000 crore = $9,302,325,581.30 (approx. 10 billion dollars)
Tax write off maybe?
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