Wipro: From a vegetable oil maker to an IT major

Wipro was established by Mohamed Hasham Premji in 1945 as a vegetable oil manufacturer in Amalner, Maharashtra. It was then known as Western India Products Ltd. Its main area of business was production of sunflower vanaspati oil. Later on, it moved to soaps and other consumer care products.

The company filed for IPO in February 1946. In 1966, after Hasham Premji's death, the business was taken over by his son Azim Premji, who was then 21.

In 1977, the company changed its name to Wipro Products Ltd. In 1982, the company was renamed Wipro Ltd.

Wipro ventured into the IT business in 1981. Today, it has over 130,000 employees and clients across 54 countries.

It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2000.

In February 2001, Wipro became the first Indian IT company to get ISO 14001 certification.

Wipro has been ranked 1st in the 2010 Asian Sustainability Rating of Indian companies and is a member of the NASDAQ Global Sustainability Index as well as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

In November 2012, the company de-merged its non-IT businesses. The demerger means Wipro will hive off three units — Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering and Medical Diagnostic Product & Services business — into a separate unlisted company called Wipro Enterprises.