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Wipro peripherals unit to become separate co

Our Bureau

BANGALORE, July 3

WIPRO Ltd has announced that the Peripherals Division of Wipro Infotech will be restructured as a separate legal entity.

This is being done to allow entrepreneurial talent to get strategic investment and grow the volume-driven product business in the new entity.

The changes will take effect from August 1, subject to approval by the shareholders at the next annual general meeting, Wipro said in a release here on Monday.

To be initially called Wipro ePeripherals Ltd, the new entity will be largely owned by the employees led by Mr. Ram N. Agarwal as Managing director and CEO. Wipro Ltd will have 39 per cent ownership in Wipro ePeripherals.

The 15-year-old, Rs. 240-crore Peripherals Division of the Rs. 2,313-crore Wipro Ltd, focusses on marketing computer peripherals. The division has a track record of continuous profit since its inception.

Mr. Azim H. Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation, said ``the restructuring of Wipro's Peripherals Division is in line with Wipro's approach to encourage entrepreneurial talent in the company to create value for shareholders.

``Wipro's support to the new company will be through a financial stake, with two nominees on its board, and through their continued use of the Wipro brand name for a three-year transition period,'' he said.

``Being a separate entity will facilitate Wipro ePeripherals to become a dominant player in the market, and will allow Wipro Infotech to focus on our comprehensive IT services and solutions for customers together with our core IT products including build ing the Wipro PC brand,'' Mr. Arun K. Thiagarajan, Vice-Chairman, Wipro Ltd, said.

``The new entity will continue to be our preferred partner for providing high-quality peripherals to our customers as part of our focus on IT services and solutions,'' Mr. Thiagarajan added.

The new, primarily employee-owned and employee-managed company, will have an independent board of directors. Mr. Vineet Agrawal, Chief Executive, Wipro Infotech Peripherals Division, has been appointed as Corporate Vice-President. He will be responsible for quality, innovation and corporation brand for Wipro Corporation. Reporting to the Chairman, he will be a member of Wipro's corporate executive council.

Mr. Ram N. Agarwal, who headed the peripherals division for 12 years, said: ``The stakeholders in the new entity will continue to follow Wipro's values and the Wipro promise to the customer. We will roll out an aggressive five-year growth plan and access the capital market within 24 months to fund the growth plan.

``Our focus will be higher growth in new areas which do not conflict with Wipro Infotech, aside from continuing with the present product line. The market for peripherals in India is growing and we will enlarge our presence in several segments of the peri pherals market, including the Internet peripherals.''