Artificial Intelligence game to strategic investments: Key things that Wipro’s chairman Rishad Premji said in 77th AGM

IT giant Wipro's chairman Rishad Premji said, the company is excited about the possibilities that AI brings and has been investing ahead of the curve to understand and leverage its power and to create multiple solutions for clients. He said this to the shareholders of Wipro in its 77th annual general meeting.

Rishad revealed that for two years now, Wipro’s Generative AI Center of Excellence has conducted research with leading academic institutions, built accelerators and frameworks, and developed deep competency through the Wipro AI Academy.

Our AI practice has created several cross-industry solutions for our clients, such as demand and revenue forecasting models, deployed AI in autonomous vehicles, improved supply chain efficiencies, and driven efficiencies & quality in areas such as content moderation," he added.

From the current financial year FY24, Wipro is putting a much greater emphasis on its AI practice.

He said, going ahead, Wipro aims to integrate AI into every platform, every tool, and every solution used internally and offered to clients. This will enable our clients to accelerate AI adoption and unleash a new era of value and productivity.

In regards to the awareness that AI will impact work, personal, and social life significantly due to emerging technology, the chairman said, "We are putting in strong guardrails and governance models for its usage both internally and externally."

Further, Wipro strives to create and sustain a culture that encourages individual authenticity and offers a safe space for all 250,000-plus of its employees, Rishad told the shareholders.

He pointed out that over the last few years, Wipro has been making a very concerted effort to improve gender diversity in the company; adding he said, "I am proud to share that gender diversity at senior leadership levels has seen a threefold increase and is now at 17%."

In the US market, Rishad said, "The Disability Alliance Network, an employee resource group, is accelerating our inclusion efforts and building welcoming spaces for all our associates."

"As with its people, at Wipro, we believe that engagement with social and environmental issues must be deep, meaningful, and show a long-term commitment. Our ESG programs are central to what we do as a business today. Over a decade ago, we made a commitment to battling the challenge posed by climate change, and I am proud to share that we are getting closer to our stated goal of Net Zero GHG emissions by 2040," he added.

According to Rishad, 60% of Wipro's owned facilities now use renewable energy. Its annual business travel in FY 2023 was down to 305 million km, against a goal of 595 million km.

He added, Wipro will continue to invest in solutions and behavioral change to reach its targets even as travel rebounds and office occupancy increases.

Meanwhile, through the Wipro Foundation, Rishad said, "We continue to augment our work in education, healthcare, and urban ecology in India. Outside of India, we launched a recalibrated grants program, driven largely by the local chapter and leadership in six geographies around the world."

On Wednesday, the Azim Premji-founded Wipro earned a consolidated net profit (attributed to owners) of ₹2,870.1 crore in Q1, rising by 11.95% YoY. Meanwhile, revenue from operations stood at ₹22,831 crore in Q1FY24, recording a growth of 6.05% YoY. The tech major's non-GAAP constant currency IT Services segment revenue decreased by 2.8% QoQ and increased by 1.1% YoY. The company's total bookings were at $3.7 billion and large deal bookings stood at $1.2 billion, up by 9% YoY.

In the 77th AGM, Rishad highlighted that Wipro ended the year FY23 with strong bookings, a growth of 28% from last year, and hired 22,000 next-generation associates (or freshers, as called earlier). He added, "It is our highest number for a single year."

Although, Rishad did say that the macroeconomic environment last year was challenging. Even as the pandemic receded, the Ukraine war entered a second year, and the global interest rates stayed high. These factors impacted client spending, especially towards the second half of FY 2023.

Overall, the FY23 revenue of Wipro crossed $11 billion and grew by 11.5% in constant currency. Rishad said, "That makes it two consecutive years of double-digit growth since we began our journey of change in 2020."

For the ₹12,000 crore buyback, approximately $15 billion at ₹445 per share, Rishad said, "I am glad that we have successfully completed the buyback, the biggest in Wipro’s history. It is heartening to see that small shareholders have participated and benefitted from the buyback."

Wipro's buyback opened on June 22 and closed on June 30th. As per the regulatory filing on Thursday, Wipro's promoter and promoter group shareholding rose to 72.97% post-buyback compared to earlier 72.91%.