WIPRO LTD

Wipro Ltd is India's one of the leading tech-companies,providing IT Services, including Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services, globally. The company provides comprehensive IT Solutions and Services, including Systems Integration, Information Systems Outsourcing, IT Enabled Services, Package Implementation, Software Application development and maintenance, and Research and Development Services to corporations globally. The company is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified IT Services Company globally. In the Indian market, they are a leader in providing IT Solutions and Services for the corporate segment in India, offering System Integration, Network Integration, Software Solutions and IT Services. In the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets, they provide IT Solutions and Services for global corporations. The company is headquartered in Bangalore, India. The company provides the integrated business, technology and process solution on a global delivery platform to customers across Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. They offer business value to clients through process excellence and service delivery innovation such as Information Technology services, Product Engineering services, Technology Infrastructure services, Business Process Outsourcing services and consulting services. During the financial year 2013, Wipro carried out demerger of consumer care and lighting, infrastructure engineering businesses and other non IT business of the company. After the demerger, Wipro became a company focused on the IT services business. Wipro Ltd was incorporated in the year 1945 at Karnataka by Azim H Premji who is promoter and chairman of the company. The company started as an edible oil producer and then transformed itself into leading player in Fast Moving Consumer Goods and IT services & Products business. During the year 1994-95, the company secured ISO 9001 certification for their five manufacturing and development facilities. In February 2001, the company became the first software technology and services company in India to be certified for ISO:14001 certification for complying with the international standards for Environmental Management System (EMS) in three major software development and technology centers in Bangalore. Wipro Technologies won the 'Banker Technology Award' for the year 2004 Instituted by the Financial Times in the 'Risk Management Award' category. During the year 2005-06, the company acquired mPower Software Services Inc, a Princeton, New Jersey, US headquartered company with a development center in Chennai and MPACT Technology Services Pvt Ltd, based in Chennai, for an all cash consideration of USD 28 million. Also, they acquired New Logic Technologies AG, an Austrian firm which is mainly engaged in the semiconductor IP business and the Engineering Design Services business including the Analog Mixed Signal Business for an all cash consideration of Euro 26 million. The company received the BEST award from American society for training & development (ASTD) for three consecutive years 2004, 2005 and 2006. During the year 2006-07, the company acquired US based Quantech Global Services LLC and the India based Quantech Global Services Ltd for a cash consideration of approximately USD 3 million. They acquired US based CMango Inc and India based CMango India Pvt Ltd for cash consideration of USD 20 Million. They also acquired Finland based Saraware Oy Middle East and SAARC operations of 3D Networks and Planet PSG during the year. In their Consumer Care and Lighting business, the company acquired North-West Switches business from North- West Switchgear Ltd, a company in the business of switches, sockets, MCBs etc. for an upfront cash consideration of Rs 1,022 million. In the Infrastructure Engineering business, they acquired Hydrauto Group AB for a cash consideration of USD 31 million. The company in partnership with Motorola and formed a joint venture namely WMNETSERV Ltd for delivering world-class managed Services to telecom operators in the area of network operations. During the year 2007-08, as per scheme of amalgamation, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Ltd, Wipro Healthcare IT Ltd, Quantech Global Services Ltd mPact Technology Services Pvt Ltd, mPower Software Services (India) Pvt Ltd and cMango India Pvt Ltd were amalgamated with the company with effect from April 1, 2007. The company in association with DAR Al-Riyadh Holding Co Ltd formed a joint venture namely Wipro Arabia Ltd, for providing application development, implementation and maintenance services, systems integration and data storage services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the year, the company acquired 100% shareholding in Unza Holdings Ltd, a Singapore based Fast Moving Consumer Goods company together with their subsidiaries for an all cash consideration of approximately USD 246 million. They acquired US-based provider of IT infrastructure management, enterprise application and business process outsourcing services, for an acquisition price of about USD 600 million. They also acquired OKI Techno Centre Singapore Pte Ltd (now called as Wipro Techno Centre Singapore Pte Ltd) in an all cash deal of USD 2.5 million. During the year 2008-09, the company invested an aggregate of USD 432 million as equity, in their direct subsidiaries Wipro Cyprus Pvt Ltd, Wipro Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd, Wipro Inc and Wipro Technology Services Ltd. They also re-structured a few of their overseas subsidiaries and merged them with their holding company in the US. In January 2009, the company acquired Wipro Technology Services Ltd (formerly called as Citi Technology Services Ltd) for USD 127 million. During the year 2009-10, Wipro Networks Pte Ltd, Singapore and WMNETSERV Ltd, Cyprus were amalgamated with the company with effect from April 1, 2009. In August 2009, the company entered into partnership with Lavasa Corporation Ltd for planning, implementing and managing Information and Communication Technology services across Lavasa City. In October 2009, the company signed an agreement with Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd and formed a joint venture company namely Wipro Airport IT Services Ltd. Also, Wipro GE Healthcare Pvt Ltd, the joint venture between the company and GE Healthcare, transformed their business by integrating several existing stand-alone business units and manufacturing plants of GE Healthcare in India under Wipro GE Healthcare Entity. In November 2009, the company signed an agreement to acquire the 'Yardley' Brand business in Asia, Middle East, Australia and certain African markets from UK based Lornamead Group. In March 2010, they won a turnkey project from the Financial Intelligence Unit - India, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. As part of the project, the company will implement FiNnet (Financial Intelligence Network) for FIU-IND. In April 2010, the company signed a partnership agreement with Philips to offer Blu-ray middleware and solution development services around Philips' developed Blu-ray technology. In May 2010, the company and Oracle Corporation launched a co developed solution, a Process Integration Pack (PIP) for the High Technology industry. This solution is part of Wipro's offerings that provide a comprehensive solution footprint for the High Technology industry. They entered into a co-innovation agreement with SAP AG to develop and deliver sustainability management and energy management solutions to enterprise customers globally. In June 2010, the company's Business Process Outsourcing division partnered with Microsoft Corporation for providing global Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) for Microsoft's Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio. The company launched Wipro Hospitality Management Solution at HITEC 2010, the conference for the Hospitality and Leisure industry. In July 2010, the company in association with Lavasa Corporation Ltd and Cisco Systems Inc signed definitive agreements for Cisco to participate in MyCity Technologies Ltd to provide information and communications technology services in the new development of Lavasa City. In August 2010, the company entered into a five year agreement with ArcelorMittal, the steel company, to consolidate and migrate their messaging systems to the Microsoft Exchange 2010 messaging platform. In September 2010, the company signed five year strategic partnership with Central Bank of India for providing core banking solution for seven sponsored regional rural banks. The company will deliver business-IT alignment by deploying and implementing the core banking solution and the identified delivery channels seamlessly. They will also set up a 24 hour centralized helpdesk facility for the project, covering applications, data center, networks, security and end user systems. During the year 2010-11, the company re-structured a few of their subsidiaries including overseas subsidiaries through merger/other legal process. Wipro Yardley consumer care Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary company got merged with Wipro Ltd with effect from April 1, 2010, being the appointed date. In December 2010, the company signed a contract with Vodafone Essar. As a part of this strategic engagement, the company will support Vodafone Essar with its fixed line telecom services for enterprise business customers. Wipro will provide a wide range of services including network design and build, integration with existing IT OSS/ BSS applications and managed services if the setup over three years. In addition, Wipro will also build an Enterprise Network Operation Center to manage the operations of Vodafone Essar's enterprise customers. In January 2011, the company and Callidus Software Inc entered into a partnership to drive sales performance management across organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. In May 2011, the company signed an agreement to acquire majority stake of Brazil based Hydraulic Cylinder manufacturer R.K.M. EQUIPAMENTOS HIDRAULICOS LTDA. In June 10, 2011, the company acquired the Commercial Business Services Business Unit of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). In 2012, Australia-based MMG Selects Wipro as Strategic Partner. Wipro Acquires L.D.Waxson with Skincare brands Bio-essence & Ginvera. Wipro Tech joined Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) to develop smartphone-based connected-car solutions. Wipro Technologies and Oracle joined hands to offer next gen Oracle Fusion HCM solution. In a bid to capture the growth in fast emerging trade promotion industry, India's third largest software exporter Wipro ltd has signed an agreement to acquire Promax Applications Group (PAG) for a total consideration of AUD 35 million. Wipro also Wins NASSCOM Corporate Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion 2012. In 2013, Wipro Wins NASSCOM Corporate Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion 2012. Wipro Launched Wipro AssureHealth Platform on Microsoft Technologies. Wipro also Wins 3 Year Contract from Emirates NBD. Wipro launches 3rd edition of its sustainability program for schools and colleges- earthian 2013'. Wipro Launches Co-Innovation Center for SAP Solutions in Bangalore. Wipro Launches Mobility Center of Excellence with Kony in Hyderabad. Wipro Receives National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. During the financial year 2013, Wipro carried out demerger of consumer care and lighting, infrastructure engineering businesses and other non IT business of the company. After the demerger, Wipro became a company focused on the IT services business. In 2014, Wipro Wins 2013 Global, Asian and Indian MAKE Awards. Wipro Wins Ten Year Integrated IT and BPO Contract from UK-based, Carillion Plc. Wipro Signs Partnership with AxiomSL. Wipro Wins Managed Services Contract from DEN Networks. Wipro Wins a Transformational IT Applications and Infrastructure Engagement with 7-Eleven in Australia. Wipro Wins a Strategic Ten Year Total Outsourcing Engagement with ATCO. Wipro Launches Global Customer Experience Center. Wipro Ranked Global Leader in Telecom R&D Services for the Third Consecutive Year. Wipro is Rated as a No.1 Global Engineering and R&D service provider by Zinnov. In 2015, Wipro wins $400m IT Infra Deal from Swiss Giant ABB. Wipro is also Awarded Multi Year Strategic Infrastructure Management Contract by Allied Irish Banks. Wipro also joins together with Acquia for digital technology. Wipro signs an agreement with Nexenta. Wipro Wins 5-Year Strategic Engagement with Coop Norge Handel AS. Wipro Wins 2015 Aegis Graham Bell Award for 'Innovation in IoT. Wipro Business Process Services Launches enterprise-Know Your Customer (e-KYC)' Automation Solution for Financial Institutions. On 2 December 2015, Wipro announced that it has signed an agreement with Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW) to acquire cellent AG for 73.5 million euros. Cellent AG is a leading IT consulting and software services company and has been offering holistic innovative IT solutions and services to its customers in the DACH region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the past 14 years. cellent AG serves the DACH market region with a team of more than 800 consultants, who will now become part of Wipro. On 9 December 2015, Wipro Digital, the digital business unit of Wipro, announced the opening of its new London pod, furthering its commitment to offer enhanced digital transformation services at close proximity to its UK and European customers. The new pod is purpose-built for Wipro Digital's strategy, design and engineering teams to work in a collaborative and adaptive workspace side-by-side with clients. On 23 December 2015, Wipro announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Viteos Group, a BPaaS provider for the Alternative Investment Management Industry, for a purchase consideration of USD 130 million. Viteos was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey. The Viteos Group provides customized straight-through-processing and integrates post-trade operations across every asset class, currency, border or structure for the alternative investment management industry in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is a leader in shadow-accounting services and offers a full range of middle and back-office outsourcing through its 400 plus employees. On 4 February 2016, leading international insurer RSA announced a new seven-year partnership with Wipro to deliver its IT infrastructure requirements across the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia. Wipro will be providing infrastructure as a service for mainframe, mid-range, storage, cloud and end user services in addition to a multilingual service desk for RSA employees in all the regions. This will enable pan-European standardisation, improved end-to-end responsibility and a platform for business-led collaboration. This agreement follows a 10-month sourcing programme, which included 20 bidders, and reflects RSA's aim to drive benefits through the consolidation of services across its regional businesses. On 8 February 2016, Wipro announced that it has won an IT infrastructure transformation contract from the ASSA ABLOY Group, headquartered in Sweden. ASSA ABLOY is the global leader in door opening solutions. As part of the five-year agreement, Wipro will consolidate ASSA ABLOY's existing data centers in the EMEA region and implement a cloud-based service model, which will include IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service). On 11 February 2016, Wipro announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire HealthPlan Services from Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic investor focused exclusively on the health care industry. As part of the agreement, Wipro will acquire 100% of HealthPlan Services' shares for a purchase consideration of USD 460 million. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, HealthPlan Services offers market-leading technology platforms and a fully integrated Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) solution to Health Insurance companies (Payers) in the individual, group and ancillary markets. HealthPlan Services' BPaaS solutions are ideal for payers who want to operate in the private and public exchanges and the off-exchange individual market in the U.S. On 22 February 2016, Wipro announced a partnership with Verveba Telecom, LLC, a premiere telecom network engineering company specializing in network planning, design, deployment and mobile radio network optimization services for telecom service providers. The partnership brings together Wipro's expertise in telecom sector and Verveba's award winning Mobile Radio Network Optimization technology with services, intellectual property and solutions of both organizations. Together, the companies will offer solutions to address industry challenges in generating measurable economic value from fast growing, mobile network technology deployments & optimization especially in 4G and single RAN technologies. Verveba and Wipro will work together on business development activities and expanding solutions to telecom service providers globally. On 23 February 2016, Wipro announced a partnership with SugarCRM, the company that enables businesses to create extraordinary customer relationships with the most innovative, flexible and affordable CRM solution in the market, to offer Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions to enterprise customers. As part of the partnership, Wipro is establishing a new SugarCRM practice within Wipro's CRM service line. The company is also building a SugarCRM Center of Excellence (COE) with SugarCRM-trained and certified employees who can attend to customers worldwide. As partners, Wipro and SugarCRM anticipate addressing the increased expectations of empowered customers and will jointly offer enterprises a tool to act as the catalyst for a seamless customer experience. On 10 March 2016, Wipro announced a strategic collaboration with Tableau, a global leader in rapid-fire, easy-to-use business analytics software, to offer solution accelerators and innovative delivery models for Wipro's and Tableau's customers across the globe. This partnership aims at cross leveraging business intelligence expertise between Wipro and Tableau to deliver holistic, future proof and ready-to-go advanced visualization solutions to their customers across the globe. With this partnership, Wipro will focus on creating solutions primarily in the sectors of financial services, retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and pharmaceuticals. Innovative cloud-based delivery and business models such as subscription based pricing that will be enabled with this collaboration will widen the spectrum of the offering in terms of both scale and scope. On 14 March 2016, Wipro announced that it has won a multi-year engagement with NRGi, one of the top 5 utility providers in Denmark. As part of the contract, Wipro will develop a new IT platform to transform the utility company's CRM, Billing and Service Bureau operations. On 15 March 2016, Wipro announced a strategic partnership with Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management and automated systems, to develop convergent solutions for India's Smart Cities. Wipro and Schneider Electric will collaborate to enable the delivery of cost-effective and efficient citizen services to urban and rural communities. Both organizations will jointly develop solutions in the Smart City space for India and global markets. On 28 March 2016, Wipro announced that it has won a five-year contract from Jubilant FoodWorks Limited, master franchisee for Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts in India and the leader in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) space in the country with over 1,000 restaurants in India, to deliver energy management services and help reduce energy and operational costs. On 4 May 2016, Wipro and and Qlik, a leader in visual analytics, announced that the companies have extended their partnership to a global alliance and will work together to offer advanced enterprise analytics solutions to joint customers across industry sectors. Wipro's competency in delivering end-to-end Business Intelligence (BI) solutions combined with QlikView, Qlik's market-leading data discovery solution, will widen the scope and scale of visualization solutions offered to customers. On 5 May 2016, Wipro announced that it has been chosen by Thames Water, the United Kingdom's largest water and waste water services provider, to transform the utility company's customer service and retail billing capabilities. As part of this multi-year contract, Wipro will be developing new IT systems and processes to help Thames Water improve customer experience and drive operational efficiencies. On 11 May 2016, Wipro announced a strategic partnership with Etiya, the leading Independent Software Vendor that provides services to transform the Communications and Digital Service Providers' businesses. The joint solution, offered by Etiya and Wipro, provides Communication Service Providers with capabilities which allow them to deliver digital services that address the requirements of the future market and customer expectations. The customer experience is focused around domains such as Sales and Marketing, Omni Channel Access, Social Listening and Analysis & B2B Extensions. On 16 May 2016, Wipro announced a partnership with Xactly Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise-class, SaaS and cloud-based incentive solutions for employee and sales performance management. The partnership will offer Sales Performance Management (SPM) solutions for customer organisations across industry sectors in a software as a service model. On 18 May 2016, Wipro announced that it has been selected by Vestas Wind Systems A/S as its strategic IT partner for Workplace Services. Headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, Vestas is a global energy company that delivers best-in-class wind energy solutions in over 75 countries. Vestas' core business comprises of the development, manufacturing, sale and maintenance of wind power plants. On 25 May 2016, Wipro announced the launch of Total Customer Centricity (TCC), a Master Data Management solution for the manufacturing sector. Total Customer Centricity (TCC) will enable global manufacturers to transition from a product-centric to a customer-centric approach. TCC will also provide visibility into the relationships between devices, locations and customers. The solution will allow manufacturers across the globe capture a comprehensive, single view of each of their customers and products. On 8 June 2016, Wipro announced a partnership with Mountain View based Authentise Inc, a leading provider of 3D printing technologies and consulting services. This strategic partnership between Wipro and Authentise will enable adoption of additive manufacturing among the Global 2,000 companies. On 15 June 2016, Wipro announced the launch of its analytics solution, Data Discovery Platform. The solution provides pertinent business insights across the value chain of an industry through pre-defined 'apps'. Wipro's Data Discovery Platform will enable businesses to embark on an analytics journey with value added services of process simplification and business transformation. On 20 July 2016, The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) announced that it has awarded a seven-year strategic IT and Business transformation contract to Wipro. GTAA operates Toronto Pearson International Airport, the largest airport in Canada and the second largest in North America in terms of international traffic. On 7 September 2016, Wipro announced that it has won an IT contract from NSB Group, one of Norway's largest transportation groups. Headquartered in Oslo, NSB has extensive passenger transportation operations by way of the rail and bus, freight by rail, property management and development and train maintenance segments. As part of the three-year agreement, Wipro will implement its Boundaryless Datacenter (BLDC) and LiVE Workspace solutions and utilize its next-generation delivery framework ServiceNXT to deliver services which will help NSB variablise its IT operations. On 12 September 2016, Wipro announced a partnership with Israel-based IntSights Cyber Intelligence Ltd to bolster and expand its 'Threat Intelligence as- a- Service offering.' Intsights has developed a sophisticated cyber threat intelligence platform which provides advance warning and customized insights about potential cyberattacks and recommends remedial action. The company monitors the open, deep and dark web, including cyber-crime forums and social media platforms for signs of targeted threats against enterprises and provides alerts in near real-time to enable timely response and mitigation. Wipro's 'Threat Intelligence as a Service' offering delivers in-depth analysis of cyber threats originating from in-house sources and third-party sources or threat actors and provides enterprises with accurate cyber intelligence and incident mitigation strategies. On 12 September 2016, Wipro announced a partnership with Vectra Networks, a Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity company that provides automated threat management solutions for real-time detection of in-progress cyber attacks. Wipro will leverage the Vectra automated threat management platform built with artificial intelligence-based on machine learning and behavioral analytics to detect attacker behaviors and user anomalies in the network. On 15 September 2016, Wipro and Reltio, an enterprise data-driven applications and modern data management Platform as a Service (PaaS) company, announced a partnership to develop faster and cost effective Master Data Management (MDM) solutions. This partnership will help Reltio and Wipro's clients bridge the gap between data and insights by boosting the reliability of information, while ensuring users get access to relevant data. On 20 September 2016, Wipro and Witbe, a leading innovator in the field of Test Automation and Services Quality of Experience (QoE) Monitoring Robots for Broadband, Voice and TV Triple-Play monitoring, unveiled their global partnership. This partnership is of strategic importance to Wipro, and will offer integrated test automation and video services monitoring solutions for customer deployments across set top box, mobile platforms and other handheld devices. These solutions will benefit new and existing customers of Wipro and Witbe including semiconductor players, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) and service providers in the media industry. On 13 October 2016, Wipro announced the launch of Treasury DNA Decisions and Analytics platform that will digitally enable global treasuries using cloud technologies. Treasury DNA is powered by BELLIN's tm5, a leading treasury management systems provider. Treasury DNA is a next generation platform with a comprehensive suite of technology services delivered in a subscription-based model, and is ideal for global treasurers who aspire to be future-ready. The platform aims to transform and enhance treasury processes and operations within an enterprise. It provides real-time, integrated data and actionable treasury insights to power financial decision making. On 20 October 2016, Wipro announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Appirio, a global cloud services company that creates next generation worker and customer experiences, for a purchase consideration of USD 500 million. Established in 2006, Appirio is headquartered in Indianapolis with offices in San Francisco, Dublin, London, Jaipur, and Tokyo and has 1,250 employees worldwide. Appirio is a trusted partner to some of the world's leading brands, including Stryker, Robert Half, Johnson Controls, Cardinal Health, Coca-Cola, eBay, Facebook, Home Depot, and Sony PlayStation. Once completed, Wipro's acquisition of Appirio will create one of the world's largest cloud transformation practices, a game changer in today's as-a-service and digital economy. Appirio also brings to Wipro, Topcoder, a leading crowdsourcing marketplace connecting over a million designers, developers and data scientists around the world with customers. On 27 October 2016, Wipro announced that it has won a five-year engagement with Speciality Restaurants Ltd., a leading fine dining operator in India with 107 restaurants spread across India, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Doha in Qatar. Wipro will offer energy management services to Speciality Restaurants, which would help pare energy and operational costs. The EcoEnergy business of Wipro will implement its Managed Restaurant Energy Services (MRES) program across Speciality Restaurants' full service restaurants. On 7 November 2016, Wipro announced the launch of its Open Banking API (Application Programming Interface) Platform. The Open API platform will enable banks and financial institutions to launch Open Banking initiatives and create new forms of distribution channels and servicing capabilities, provide access to third-party application marketplaces, and comply with emerging regulatory norms through the standardization of APIs. Open Banking is an emerging trend in financial technology that uses Open APIs to enable third party developers build applications and services around a financial institution. It facilitates greater financial transparency and helps financial institutions innovate and create new revenue models. Open Banking has been gaining significant momentum across the globe, especially in the European banking industry - driven by changing regulatory mandates. Revised Directive on Payment Services (PSD2) is one such regulatory mandate that aims to standardize, integrate and improve payment efficiency in the European Union. On 15 November 2016, Wipro and ASG Technologies, a global provider of information access, management and control solutions, announced an expanded partnership that integrates the offerings of Wipro's Data Management Centre of Excellence (CoE) with ASG's Enterprise Data Intelligence solution to improve compliance for the global financial services companies. On 1 December 2016, Wipro announced that it has been awarded a three-year IT infrastructure services and digital transformation contract by Woodside. Woodside is an Australian oil and gas company with a global presence, and is recognised for its world-class capabilities as an explorer, a developer, a producer and supplier. Leveraging its ServiceNXT platform, Wipro will provide Managed Services for IT Infrastructure across Woodside's global portfolio, with a focus on the larger sites of Perth and Karratha in Australia. The engagement includes delivering infrastructure services to offshore maritime facilities and potential exploration sites. On 25 January 2017, Wipro signed an agreement to acquire InfoSERVER S.A. for BRL 27.6 Million (USD 8.7 million). InfoSERVER, an IT services provider, which is focussed on the Brazilian market, provides custom application development and software deployment services. Two-decade old InfoSERVER, which counts some of the largest Brazilian banks as its clients, will help Wipro in expanding its presence in the country's highly traditional and competitive Banking, Financial Services & Insurance market besides adding invaluable domain and process knowledge on the sector. On 30 January 2017, Wipro announced a strategic partnership with Tradeshift, the fastest growing business commerce platform, to offer cloud-based Source-to-Pay (S2P) Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) solution. The partnership aims to help customers accelerate digitalization and automation in their procurement, finance and accounting functions. Headquartered in San Francisco, Tradeshift offers a business commerce platform to digitally connect companies through cloud-based, collaborative accounts payable and procurement automation. Along with the partnership agreement, Wipro Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Wipro, has made an investment in Tradeshift to strengthen the partnership and further develop Tradeshift's innovative applications, trade financing solutions platform and business-to-business marketplace ecosystem. On 31 January 2017, Wipro Gallagher Solutions (WGS), an end-to-end provider of lending products and services, announced a partnership with Veri-Tax LLC, a leading national verification specialist, to streamline verification solutions. The partnership between Wipro Gallagher Solutions, the provider of the NetOxygen Loan Origination System (LOS) and Veri-Tax LLC will help lenders mitigate identity fraud, accelerate processing, and improve the customer's experience seamlessly and electronically. On 1 February 2017, Wipro announced that it has joined the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), the global, member-supported organization that promotes the accelerated growth of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). This membership provides Wipro opportunities to engage and innovate with multi-partner testbeds and adopt best practices to drive digital transformation for customers. On 14 February 2017, Wipro announced that it is delivering analytics-based insights for specific industries with the Data Discovery Platform, its newest big data analytics-as-a-service solution. Built with IBM BigInsights and IBM dashDB and developed on Bluemix, IBM's cloud platform, the solution accelerates insight-driven decision making through pre-built applications for specific industries, such as banking and financial services, retail, energy, education and manufacturing. On 15 February 2017, Wipro announced that its Digital-TV (DTV) Middleware Solution, which facilitates In-Car TV reception systems, has been customized for the Japanese automotive market. Wipro's DTV Middleware offering provides a turnkey solution for global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of automotive infotainment systems to enable broadcast TV reception within vehicles. On 28 February 2017, Wipro announced a new IoT-based solution for wind parks and wind turbine manufacturers that leverages the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Windpark Manager 4.0. The solution manages wind turbines and associated IT infrastructure, including IT applications and security aspects to optimize operational expenditure, generate new revenue streams, and future-proof a customer's business. On 8 March 2017, Wipro announced that it has become a member of the LoRa Alliance, one of the fastest growing Internet of Things (IoT) alliances with over 400 members. This membership will help Wipro accelerate its Internet of Things (IoT) solution deployments, using Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) technology for customers across industry sectors such as energy, utilities, natural resources, smart cities, ports, and logistics. On 14 March 2017, Wipro announced that it has won a twelve-year contract from NHS Scotland to build a next generation Enterprise Master Patient Index (eMPI) solution. This solution, which will be hosted in Scotland, will help NHS Scotland transition from its current legacy Community Health Index System (CHI) to offer cost effective, efficient, paperless and patient-friendly healthcare services in Scotland. NHS Scotland is the region's National Health Board working towards reducing health inequalities and improving health conditions. On 15 March 2017, Wipro announced its partnership with Harte Hanks to offer marketing technology services. As part of the multi-year engagement, Wipro will upgrade Harte Hank's data analytics and applications platform, create a scalable operating model and simplify IT related processes for the company. Harte Hanks is an American marketing services company specializing in omni-channel marketing solutions including consulting, strategic assessment, data, analytics, digital, social, mobile, print, direct mail and contact center. On 15 March 2017, Wipro announced the opening of an Automotive Engineering Center (AEC) in Detroit. The center aims to drive innovation in connected vehicle concepts - design, product engineering, digital customer-vehicle experiences, artificial intelligence, and sensors-driven advanced vehicle data analytics. The center will serve as a hub to support the automotive engineering and IT requirements of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and tier-I suppliers, based in North America. On 4 May 2017, Wipro announced that it has joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) as a founding member. EEA is a collaboration of enterprises to promote, develop and implement enterprise grade Ethereum-based blockchain applications across industries for specific business use cases.On 17 May 2017, Wipro announced that it has developed nine blockchain-based solutions for the Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), Manufacturing, Retail and Consumer Goods industries. Defined, designed and co-developed with clients in Wipro's Blockchain Innovation Lab, these solutions demonstrate what block chain can accomplish for global enterprises. On 14 June 2017, Wipro announced that it has won an IT Applications Managed Services engagement with Valmet, a leading global developer and supplier of technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. Valmet is headquartered in Finland. As part of the multi-year engagement, Wipro will deliver the maintenance and support of the new ERP platform in a Managed Services model covering all global locations in which Valmet operates. The construct of the contract is geared towards bringing cost efficiencies and enabling enhanced optimization in ongoing support. Additionally, Wipro will also support the end to end testing activities around the implementation and rollout of the new ERP platform. On 15 June 2017, Wipro announced that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Service Delivery status for AWS Service Catalog. With this status, Wipro's capabilities help clients build the AWS Service Catalog to enable self-service discovery, maintain controls and centrally manage their enterprise cloud services. On 22 June 2017, Wipro announced a collaboration with Red Hat, the world's leading provider of open source solutions, to set up a cloud application factory designed to offer developers and IT teams a repeatable and rapid methodology for application modernization across public, private, and hybrid clouds. Wipro's cloud application factory will have a dedicated services team that can help drive the strategy, design, and delivery of next generation applications globally, using Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, Red Hat's award-winning container application platform. On 28 June 2017, Wipro announced that locals now form over 50% of its US workforce. The company has been focused on creating jobs in the US underscoring its strategy to build a deep reservoir of local talent based out of centers close to its clients. During the past decade, Wipro has invested over USD 2 billion in the United States. On 5 July 2017, Wipro and Ramot, the Business Engagement Center at Tel Aviv University (TAU), announced a partnership for joint research in emerging technologies. TAU is Israel's largest institution of higher learning which is home to over 30,000 students studying in nine faculties, over 125 schools and departments across the spectrum of sciences, engineering, humanities and the arts. The partnership envisages the creation of joint research capability at TAU, supported by Wipro to pursue core as well as applied research in fast-developing technologies in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space. Wipro's Board of Directors at its meeting held on 20 July 2017 approved a proposal to buyback up to 34.37 crore equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 11000 crore, being 7.06% of the total paid up equity share capital, at Rs 320 per share on a proportionate basis under the tender offer route. On 25 July 2017, Wipro announced a partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to offer IT infrastructure solutions in a consumption-based or pay-per-use business model for enterprises. This model for IT Infrastructure procurement and provisioning will be offered to both Wipro and HPE's customers, globally. As a part of this alliance, Wipro will leverage HPE Flexible Capacity to offer flexible and scalable IT infrastructure services in a consumption-based IT model, accelerate growth and enable digital transformation for its customers. HPE's scalable consumption-based IT model of provisioning and procurement coupled with Wipro's industry proven end-to-end suite of IT Infrastructure services, and global delivery capabilities will enhance the security, agility, scalability of customers' IT infrastructure, and help them ascertain and regulate the public cloud economics of their data centers. On 1 August 2017, Wipro announced the launch of a multi-million dollar Silicon Valley Innovation Center in Mountain View, California. This state-of-the-art R&D and incubation hub is designed to develop and showcase next-generation technologies and solutions for enterprises. On 2 August 2017, Wipro and Tricentis, a software testing company and a thought leader in the automated testing space, announced a partnership for Quality Engineering. This partnership with Tricentis will strengthen Wipro's Quality Engineering and Testing Services capabilities, by integrating Tricentis Tosca, a continuous testing platform, with Wipro AssureNXT, a managed services QA platform combined with the capabilities of Wipro HOLMES Artificial Intelligence Platform as a part of the broader automaton ecosystem. On 7 August 2017, Wipro announced the availability of Data Discovery Platform, its big data analytics-as-a-service solution on Microsoft Azure. The solution accelerates insight-driven decision making through pre-built applications for specific industries, such as banking and financial services, retail, energy, education and manufacturing. Wipro's Data Discovery Platform will enable businesses to embark on an analytics journey with value added services of process simplification and business transformation to bridge the gap between the insights required by business and the information that is available. Wipro Data Discovery Platform is available in an outcome-based pay-per-insight' cloud delivery model. On 8 August 2017, Wipro and Excelfore, a leading provider of middleware solutions for Smart Mobility Networks, announced a global partnership to offer secure connectivity solutions for next generation smart and autonomous vehicles. This partnership combines Excelfore's Smart Mobility Networks solutions with Wipro's global systems integration and managed services expertise to enable connected car solutions for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 equipment makers. On 16 August 2017, Wipro announced that it has won a five-year IT infrastructure and applications managed services engagement with Grameenphone (GP), a leading telecom operator in Bangladesh. Wipro will be managing the complete IT landscape for GP, leveraging Wipro HOLMES. On 4 September 2017, Wipro announced the launch of its newest digital pod in Edinburgh, Scotland, deepening its commitment to offer digital services at close proximity to its UK and European customers. The Edinburgh Pod is purpose-built for Wipro's digital strategy, design and engineering teams to work in a collaborative and adaptive workspace, along with clients. Digital pods allow teams to work with the necessary autonomy to facilitate speed, continually evaluating progress with user research and technical performance data. On 7 September 2017, Wipro announced that it has won a five-year IT applications management contract from Outokumpu. Headquartered in Finland, Outokumpu is a global leader in stainless steel. As part of the five-year contract, Wipro will provide applications management services for Outokumpu's SAP landscape along with legacy applications support to cover Outokumpu locations globally. On 12 September 2017, Wipro announced the launch of an Automotive Center of Excellence (CoE) in Timisoara, Romania. This CoE will help Wipro deliver innovative embedded software solutions for its global and European clients. This engineering center in Romania is part of Wipro's global delivery network that offers best-in-class engineering and IT services. On 13 September 2017, Wipro announced that it has joined Hyperledger to design and develop open source-based blockchain solutions for enterprise-grade blockchain deployments. Hyperledger is a global open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies across sectors such as finance, banking, Internet of Things, supply chain, manufacturing and technology. On 14 September 2017, McLaren Technology Group announced that Wipro has become the official technology provider to help drive digitalisation across its businesses. Wipro will assist McLaren with achieving its recently defined IT strategy, focusing on providing next-generation differentiated IT services to its business divisions with an emphasis on agility and improved reliability. On 14 September 2017, Wipro announced the launch of automation services powered by its HOLMES artificial intelligence platform. Wipro's automation services are designed to deliver cognitive enhancements to user experience and productivity with a measurably improved Business Value Index' for each level of a business process. On 15 September 2017, Wipro announced that it has been awarded a seven-year contract by innogy SE to manage its data center and cloud services. innogy SE is an established European energy company. As part of the agreement signed in November 2016, innogy transferred its twin data centers in Neurath und Niederaussen in Germany to Wipro on 1 February 2017. The subsequent transition phase ran smoothly. Wipro will leverage its BoundaryLess Data Center offering to help innogy drive a transformation program to rationalize, virtualize and consolidate its IT infrastructure. On 15 September 2017, Wipro announced plans to deliver the Wipro BoundaryLess Data Center (BLDC) solution built on Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack to help customers expand their infrastructure capabilities beyond the traditional walls of the enterprise datacenter. This joint offering will help Wipro's customers benefit from an economic cloud model, in a hybrid environment across both on-premises data centers and the Azure public cloud. On 26 September 2017, Wipro and CloudGenix Inc., a leading provider of Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) products, announced a partnership to offer open and managed SD-WAN services. Termed as WANFreedom, the service allows enterprise customers to rapidly deploy cloud, SaaS (Software as a Service) and data center applications over any combination of MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching), Internet broadband and LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks, thereby enabling a rich user experience and IT infrastructure cost optimization. On 5 October 2017, Wipro Digital announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cooper, an award-winning design and business strategy consultancy. Wipro Digital is the digital business unit of Wipro. Cooper will become part of Designit, Wipro Digital's strategic design arm, further strengthening its design and innovation capabilities, expanding its reach in North America and adding capabilities in professional design education. On 6 November 2017, Wipro announced the launch of industry-specific solutions on SAP Leonardo. The first set of solutions will focus on the utilities industry, while the next will cover the consumer and manufacturing industries. SAP Leonardo is a holistic digital innovation system that comprehensively integrates future-facing technologies and capabilities into SAP Cloud Platform. As part of the partnership, Wipro will develop industry-specific analytics 'apps' on its insights-as-a-service solution, Data Discovery Platform, leveraging SAP Leonardo analytics, Big Data and data intelligence capabilities. On 1 December 2017, Wipro announced that its long-time customer National Grid US has filed lawsuit against the company in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York seeking damages amounting to $140 million plus additional costs related to the project. The lawsuit relates to an ERP implementation project which began in 2009. Wipro joined the project in 2010, and the post-Go-live process was completed in 2014. Wipro said National Grid's claims are baseless and that the company will vigorously contest the allegations in court. On 15 December 2017, Wipro announced a partnership with Headspin, a San Francisco-based powerful, easy-to-use mobile experience platform, to offer next-generation mobility quality engineering and testing solutions on global mobile networks. This partnership will leverage Headspin's network of 22,000 mobile devices deployed in carrier networks across 150 locations and Wipro's industry leading quality assurance capabilities to bring significant value to customers by validating their mobile applications, devices and networks under real life conditions. The joint offering will enable continuous monitoring of applications, identification of performance bottlenecks and rectification of inefficient content delivery to ensure a seamless application experience for end users, across geographies. Wipro Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Wipro that is focused on investing in early- to mid-stage startups, made an investment in Headspin in October 2017. On 23 January 2018, Wipro announced that it has won a multi-year business process services engagement with Nilfisk. Headquartered in Denmark, Nilfisk is a leading global supplier of professional cleaning equipment and solutions. As part of this contract which was signed in June 2017, Wipro will leverage its global delivery network to implement business process services for Nilfisk in the areas of Finance and Accounting (F&A), Marketing services as well as select IT services in more than 45 client locations, across the world. Wipro will support Nilfisk in consolidating its back office Finance & Accounting operations, being delivered from globally diverse locations. On 24 January 2018, Wipro announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Wipro LLC will invest $9.9 million for a minority stake in Harte Hanks, a US-based global marketing services company specializing in omni-channel marketing solutions including consulting, strategic assessment, data, analytics, digital, social, mobile, print, direct mail and contact center. Both companies will expand their existing partnership to offer end-to-end marketing technology services to customers. On 1 March 2018, Wipro announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a minority stake in US based Denim Group, a leading independent application security firm. This partnership will bring together Wipro's strong digital transformation and cybersecurity capabilities with Denim Group's application security consulting, assessments and implementation services including DevSecOps and secure development training services. On 14 March 2018, Wipro announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to divest its hosted data center services business to Ensono, a leading hybrid IT services provider, for USD 405 million. Wipro and Ensono have also signed a long-term partnership agreement to jointly address the hybrid IT requirements of Wipro's new and existing enterprise customers. As part of the agreement, Wipro will make a strategic investment of USD 55 million in Ensono's combined entity. On 14 March 2018, Wipro and Trintech, a leading global provider of integrated, cloud-based Record to Report (R2R) finance software solutions for the office of finance, announced a strategic partnership to deliver digital solutions that help simplify and automate business finance functions at enterprises. As a strategic partner, Wipro will offer its clients Trintech's portfolio of financial solutions, which encompass high-volume transaction matching, balance sheet and intercompany reconciliations, journal entries, financial close task management, disclosure and fiduciary reporting, and compliance management. Wipro will work further with its clients to complement Trintech's portfolio with its strong consulting and execution capabilities in three key areas: collaborating with Wipro's AI & Automation platform HOLMESTM to extend the footprint of Trintech's Risk Intelligent RPATM financial solution; planning and delivering world-class financial transformation along with integration services with clients' systems; and post-implementation support utilizing Wipro's global delivery model. On 26 March 2018, Wipro announced an expanded global relationship with Adobe to create, build and run digital marketing solutions and campaigns for their clients, across the globe. As a part of this alliance, Wipro will embed Adobe's design and prototyping software, Adobe XD CC, the all-in-one UX/UI solution for designing and prototyping mobile apps and websites, into its Digital Experience Platform. On 27 March 2018, Wipro unveiled its Texas Technology Center in Plano, Texas. The new facility will primarily house Wipro's US cyber security center, as well as serve as a hub for advanced analytics. The state-of-the-art 45,000-square feet center is designed to promote collaboration, spur eativity and enhance productivity. In addition to the newly-launched Texas Technology Center in Plano, Wipro has major operations in Dallas and Houston, in Texas. During the year 2018-19, the Company allotted 1,681,717 equity shares and transferred 2,599,183 equity shares of Rs 2/- each from Wipro Equity Reward Trust, pursuant to exercise of stock options by eligible employees and allotted 1,508,469,180 equity shares of Rs 2/- each as bonus equity shares on 08 March 2019 by capitalization of sums standing to the credit of the free reserves and/or the securities premium account and/or the capital redemption reserve account of the Company. During the financial year 2018-19, your Company invested an aggregate of Rs 36,373 million in its direct subsidiaries. On 16 April 2019, the Board approved a proposal to buyback up to 323,076,923 (Thirty Two Crores Thirty Lakhs Seventy Six Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty Three) equity shares of the Company for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 105,000,000,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand Five Hundred Crores only), being 23.03% of the aggregate of the fully paid-up equity share capital and free reserves as per the audited standalone balance sheet as at 31 March 2019, at a price of Rs 325/- (Rupees Three Hundred and Twenty Five) per equity share. During the FY2019, merger of Wipro Technologies Austria GmbH, Wipro Information Technology Austria GmbH, NewLogic Technologies SARL and Appirio India Cloud Solutions Private Limited (wholly owned subsidiaries) with and into Wipro Limited pursuant to order dated 29 March 2019 passed by NCLT approving the scheme of amalgamation ('Scheme') for the aforesaid merger. As per the said Scheme, the appointed date is 01 April 2018.The company liquidated Appirio Singapore Pte Ltd and Appirio GmbH. Also carried out the merger of Cellent Mittelstandsberatung GmbH with and into Cellent GmbH, Germany. The company setting up of a new subsidiary namely Wipro IT Services S.R.L in Romania. Also Setting up of a new subsidiary namely Wipro US Foundation in USA. Wipro was ranked as the third fastest growing global IT Services brand in 2019 in a study conducted by Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation firm. Wipro received Quality Global Supplier' award from innogy SE. Wipro was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) - World and Emerging Markets for the 9th time in succession. Pursuant to the approval of the Board on 16 April 2019 and approval of shareholders through special resolution dated 01 June 2019 passed through postal ballot/e-voting, your Company concluded the buyback of 323,076,923 equity shares of face value of Rs 2/- each at a price of Rs 325/- per equity share, for an aggregate amount of Rs 105,000 million, in September 2019. During the financial year 2019-20, your Company has carried out restructuring of its following subsidiaries: a. Dissolution of Wipro Retail UK Limited and Liquidation of Appirio GmbH, b. Merger of Frontworx Informationstechnologie GmbH with and into Cellent GmbH, c. Merger of Digital Aps with and into Designit A/s. During the FY2020,Wipro was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) - World and Emerging Markets for the 10th time in succession.The company has been named as 2020 World's Most Ethical Company for the 9th successive year by the Ethisphere Institute.The company was also recognised as leader in Everest Group PEAK MatrixTM in 2019 and 2020 Healthcare payer digital services.The company has been recognised by the Top Employers Institute as a Top Employer in Australia, for 2020. During the nine months ended 31 December 2020, the Company has completed two business combinations (which individually are not material) for a total consideration of Rs 7,853. These include (a) acquisition of IVIA Servicos de Informatica Ltda. ('IVIA '), a specialized IT services provider to financial services, retail and manufacturing sectors in Brazil (b) acquisition of 4C NV and its subsidiaries ('4C'), a Salesforce multicloud partner in Europe, U.K. and the Middle East, and (c) acquisition of Encore Theme Technologies Private Limited ('ETT'), a Finastra trade finance solutions partner across the Middle East, Africa, India and Asia Pacific. On 13 October 2020, the Board of Directors approved a proposal to Buyback up to 237,500,000 equity shares of Rs 2 each (representing 4.16% of total paid-up equity share capital as at 30 September 2020) from the shareholders of the Company on a proportionate basis by way ofa tender offer at a price of Rs 400 per equity share for an aggregate aruount not exceeding Rs 95,000 million ('Buyback'), in accordance with the provisions contained in The Securities and Exchange Board of lndia (Buy-back of Securities) Regulations, 2018, as amended and the Companies Act, 2013 and rules made thereunder ('Buyback Regulations'). Subsequently, the shareholders of the Company approved the Buyback through postal ballot (including e-voting) on 16 November 2020 and 11 December 2020 was fixed as the record date for the Buyback. In accordance with the provisions of the Buyback Regulations, the Letter of offer for the buyback was approved by SEBI on 21 December 2020 and tender period for Buyback opened on 29 December 2020 and will close on 11 January 2021. Consequently, the Company has recorded a liability towards gross obligation on Buyback of equity shares oft 95,000 million and the corresponding liability for tax on buyback of Rs 22,021 million as at 31 December 2020. On 22 December 2020, as part of strategic partnership, the Company entered into a definitive agreement with Metro AG to take over the IT units in Germany and Romania. The consummation of the transaction is subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed by 30 April 2021. In March 2021, the company has acquired London-based The Capital Markets Company(Capco) for USD 1.45 billion. Capco is a management and technology consultancy firm that provides digital,consulting and technology services to the global banking and financial services industry.