Wipro to consider share buyback proposal on April 27

The board of directors of Wipro Ltd will consider a proposal to buy back equity shares of the company. The outcome of the board meeting will be communicated after the conclusion of the board meeting on April 27, 2023. Wipro will also announce results for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2023, on April 27, 2023. It's the first share buyback by the Bengaluru-based company since January 2021.

"The Board of Directors of the Company will be considering a proposal to buyback equity shares of the Company and the matters necessary and incidental thereto, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 (including the rules and regulations framed thereunder), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Buy-back of Securities) Regulations, 2018, as amended, and other applicable laws, at its meeting scheduled to be held over April 26 - 27, 2023," the Bengaluru-headquartered firm said in a filing with the stock exchanges.

The share buyback exhibits promoters' confidence in the company and is seen as a way to share excess cash with stockholders of the company. Wipro's previous share buybacks were carried out in 2021 and 2019. The company carried out ₹9,500 crore share buyback from December 29, 2020-January 11, 2021, while a share buyback worth ₹10,500 crore was carried out between August 14-28, 2019.

On the development of the share buyback proposal, the shares of Wipro rose 1.05% on the BSE on Monday to ₹371.85. The stock opened a gap-up at ₹376 and surged to an intra-day high of ₹377.75. At the current share price, the Wipro shares are way below its 52-week high of ₹540.85 achieved on April 22, 2022, while just above its 52-week low of ₹351.85 touched on April 17, 2023.

In terms of performance, shares of Wipro have risen 3.42% in the past week; 3.11% in the past month; declined 3.05% in the past six months; and dipped 5.13% in the year-to-date period. The stock is down around 29.53% in the past year.

The IT services giant had reported a 2.82% growth in its consolidated net profit for the October-December quarter of FY 2022-23 at ₹3,052.9 crore against ₹2,969 crore profit in the year-ago period. The company's revenue from operations recorded double-digit growth at 14.35% to ₹23,229 crore vs ₹20,313.6 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Besides, Wipro, one of India’s largest IT services companies, has been vocal about getting employees to offices to build better relationships post-pandemic. Since the pandemic, while quarterly attrition at large IT firms Infosys and Cognizant peaked at 24-25% and 28-29%, respectively, Wipro’s attrition peaked at 23.3% in Q4 of 2022 and has been moderating since then. “We have always been committed to understanding employees’ needs and have reshaped our policies accordingly,” Saurabh Govil, president and CHRO, Wipro, told Fortune India last month. “The pandemic taught us how workplace and workforce can be synced through hybrid working. Employees are attracted to human-centric organisations where hybrid work provides flexibility for balancing personal needs with autonomy for achieving business outcomes.”