Wipro's plan to acquire Denmark-based strategic design firm Designit was seen positively by the Street. The acquisition will enable Wipro to strengthen its presence in the promising digital segment. Notably, most Indian IT companies believe digital is the next big growth driver for the sector and are stepping up their efforts to bag deals in this segment.

Wipro targets revenues worth $1 billion from its digital arm - 'Wipro Digital' and this acquisition will be a key step to achieve this. The deal is priced between 60-89 million euros and values Designit at 2-3 times its CY14 Enterprise Value to Sales, estimate analysts.

Wipro Digital, the digital business unit of Wipro Limited, today announced its intention to acquire Designit, an award winning and global strategic design firm specializing in designing transformative product-service experiences.

This investment marks a further stage in Wipro’s move to evolve the digital offer it takes to market, combining its reputation and heritage in deep engineering and transformative technology with human centered-design methods.

In line with its strategy to tap opportunities in the digital space, Wipro on Thursday said it would acquire Designit, a Denmark-based global strategic design firm, for Euro 85 million (Rs 595 crore, or $94 million). The all-cash deal will also have a component of deferred payment, to be payable through the next three years, upon the acquired entity achieving certain milestones.

The acquisition is expected to strengthen Wipro Digital, the company’s digital business unit (set up in March this year).

BENGALURU: Wipro's billionaire chairman Azim Premji, the first Indian to sign the Giving Pledge, has set aside more than half of his wealth for charity by allocating an additional 18% stake in the company to fund philanthropy.

Premji, who will turn 70 this month, controls a 73.39% stake in India's third-largest software company, which is worth about Rs 99,500 crore ($15.7 billion). In Wipro's annual report for the year ended March 2015, Premji said he has now allocated the equivalent of 39% of the company's shares to a trust focussed on philanthropic initiatives, mainly primary education. The additional 18% stake forms the latest tranche of shares Premji has allocated for charity.

New Delhi: Indian businessmen scrambled to showcase many of their existing investment plans and allocations as a response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India initiative, which was launched on Wednesday. By the end of the day, they had announced planned investments of Rs.4.5 trillion, and hires of 1.8 million people, over the next 5-10 years.

The numbers sound highly laudable, but are mostly investments in their own businesses, experts said.

Wipro, India's third-largest IT services company, plans to harness opportunities in the technology space with a series of initiatives. In a letter to the shareholders in the company's annual report for 2014-15, Wipro Chief Executive Officer T K Kurien said the company would tap these opportunities backed by its twin themes - 'Run', which is about turbocharging the existing business, and 'Change', which focuses on preparing for the future. "We believe the twin themes will allow us to support our customer needs better and create a sustainable growth engine for ourselves," he said.

BENGALURU: Cisco's chief technology and strategy officer Padmasree Warrior, who announced earlier this month that she is leaving the company, may be considering an advisory or Board role in India's third-largest IT services company Wipro.

Multiple sources told TOI that the Vijaywada-born Warrior, one of Silicon Valley's most influential technology leaders, is being wooed by Wipro. Warrior would be seen as a savvy addition at a time when the $7.5-billion IT company is attempting to bolster its digital and IP-based offerings and reduce dependence on the commoditized IT services business.

Wipro Enterprises and Heinz India are locking horns over the trademark of their glucose-based chewable tablets. Wipro, which owns Glucovita Bolts brand of chewable tablets, has filed an appeal in the Madras High Court against a single-judge order, which dismissed its plea for an interim injunction against Heinz’s usage of the trademark Glucon-D Volt. Wipro says its product Glucovita Bolts was a market leader between 2012 and 2015.

Wipro claims Heinz’s product is phonetically and visually similar to its trademark. T V Ramanujun, senior counsel for Heinz India, said the allegations of Wipro are baseless.

Wipro Enterprises Ltd and Heinz India Pvt Ltd are locking horns over trademark of their glucose based chewable tablets. Wipro, which owns Glucovita Bolt brand of chewy tablet, has filed an appeal in the Madras High Court against a Single Judge order dismissing its plea for an interim injunction against Heinz's usage of the mark Glucon-D Volt.

Wipro, which claims that its product Glucovita Bolt has been present in the market from 2012 and between the years 2012-2015, it was a market leader having a turnover of Rs 22.3 crore with an advertisement expenditure of Rs 11.2 crore, alleged that the Glucose based chewable tablet, manufactured and marketed by Heinz India and Candico (I) Ltd is phonetically and visually similar to the trademark.

Are MNCs better at generating cash from their companies than their domestic counterparts? Data on dividend seem to suggest so - for FY15, there were four MNCs among the top 10 companies with dividend-earning promoters. While the Tatas topped the list with total promoter dividend earnings of Rs 12,018 crore, American tech giant Oracle was the second (Rs 4,193.4 crore), followed by Unilever (Rs 2,181.8 crore).

By contrast, many of India's prominent business houses earn low amounts as dividend from their companies, with the exception of tech majors. Azim Premji of Wipro was India's fourth-highest dividend earner in FY15, with dividend income of Rs 2,174 crore. He was followed by Mukesh Ambani, who earned Rs 1,464 crore as dividend from Reliance Industries.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.