Wipro Limited (507685) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

I now call this meeting to order. Let me begin by introducing you to the other members present with me today. To my right is Mr. Azim Premji; Ms. Ireena Vittal; Dr. Patrick J. Ennis; Mr. Deepak Satwalekar, Mr. Patrick Dupuis. And to my left is Mr. Thierry Delaporte; Mr. Jatin Dalal; Ms. Tulsi Naidu; Ms. Paivi Rekonen and Mr. Sanaulla Khan. Also present today are our strategy auditors, Mr. Anand Subramanian, who's a partner at Deloitte, and Mr. V. Sreedharan, our Secretarial Auditor, from V. Sreedharan & Associates. I now request our company Secretary, Mr. Sanaulla Khan to read the arrangements made for the members at the 77th Annual General Meeting. Sana, over to you.

Good morning, dear shareholders. Welcome to the 77th Annual General Meeting of Wipro Limited. The company has enabled the members to participate at the 77th Annual General Meeting through the video conferencing facility. The proceedings of this meeting are also being webcasted live for all the members as for the details provided in the notice to the Annual General Meeting. The proceedings of this meeting are being recorded for compliance purposes. In accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2013 and the SEBI listing regulations, the members have been provided with the facility to exercise their right to vote by electronic means, both through remote e-voting and e-voting at the Annual General Meeting. Remote e-voting facility was made available to all members holding shares as on the cutoff date that is July 5, 2023, during the period commencing from 9:00 a.m. IST on Saturday, July 8, 2023, till 5:00 p.m. IST on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Remote e-voting has been blocked on July 11, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. Members joining the meeting through the video conference who have not already cast their vote by means of remote e-voting may vote through the Instapoll e-voting facility provided at this meeting. The members who have cast their vote by remote e-voting prior to the Annual General Meeting shall not be entitled to cast their vote once again. The members -- the Board of Directors has appointed Mr. V. Sreedharan, partner and of V. Sreedharan & Associates as the scrutinizer for this meeting. Based on the report of the scrutinizer, the combined results of remote e-voting and the e-voting done at the meeting today will be announced and displayed on the website of the company and will also be submitted to the stock exchanges as per the requirements under the SEBI listing regulation. You may also note the register of Directors shareholding, the register of contracts, copies of audited financial statements are available for inspection to the members and members seeking to inspect such documents can send an e-mail to [email protected]. I now request Mr. Rishad Premji, Chairman to continue with the proceedings of the meeting. Over to you, Rishad.

Thank you, Sana. I am satisfied that all the efforts feasible under the circumstances have been made by the company to enable members to participate and to vote on the items being considered at this meeting. Before we take up the items as per the notice, let me present a few highlights of our performance from financial year 2023 and also share some of my views on the overall outlook for the IT sector. Again, shareholders, welcome. On behalf of the Wipro Board of Directors, I once again extend you a very warm welcome to our 77th Annual General Meeting. Thank you for your continued support and faith in us over all these many years. I'm happy to share that in financial year 2023, our revenues crossed $11 billion and grew by 11.5% in constant currency. This makes it 2 consecutive years of double-digit growth since we began our journey of change in 2020. In April of this year, the Board approved a buyback for the value of INR 12,000 crores, approximately $1.5 billion at the price of INR 445 per equity share. I'm glad that we have been able to successfully complete this buyback, the biggest in Wipro's history, and it is incredibly heartening to see that so many small shareholders have participated and have benefited from this buyback. Let me now try and place our performance for the financial year of '23 in the larger context of the environment we are living through. As you are all aware, the macroeconomic environment last year was challenging and continues to remain so. Even as the pandemic receded, the Ukraine war entered its second year and global interest rates continue to remain high. These factors have impacted client spending, especially towards the second half of financial year '23. While technology adoption as a whole remains secular, we see that in sectors like banking and financial services and technologies, clients spent more on cost optimization and less on discretionary spending, especially in the second half of last year. We were well prepared for this change. Our strong portfolio of solutions on both sides on the growth as well as on the efficiency side, I believe, has helped us react quickly and pertinently to these developments. I am happy to share with you that we ended the year with strong order bookings, a growth of 28% from last year, that is financial year '22 and hired 22,000 next-generation associates or freshers as we used to call them earlier. This is our highest number ever for a single year. This year, as in the previous one, we made several major strategic investments as well and added new capabilities and grew our talent to support our future growth. Thierry will expand more on this in his remarks. But let me just share with you a few highlights that I think are important. One, we brought together Wipro's entire cloud capability under a fully integrated global business line, which we now call Wipro FullStride Cloud which accounts for more than 1/3 of the company's revenues. Last year, in April, we acquired Rizing, a global SAP consulting firm and made significant hires in our cybersecurity practice, helping us create industry-leading applications. And lastly, from the beginning of this quarter, we have reorganized ourselves into 4 global business lines. The first being FullStride Cloud, the second being enterprise Futuring, the third being Engineering Edge and the fourth being Consulting. This new model, I believe, aligns us more closely with our clients' priorities and helps us drive growth in our strategic areas. One such strategic area of growth in the future will be artificial intelligence. As all of you know, for the last many months, you would have noticed that there's a sharp uptick in conversations around AI and especially around generative artificial intelligence. ChatGPT and DALL·E are now front and center in everyday conversations about the future of technology. At Wipro, we are incredibly excited about the possibilities that AI brings and I believe I've been investing ahead of the curve to understand and leverage its power, both inside Wipro as well as to create solutions, multiple solutions for our clients. Some of you may have seen the announcement we made in the press earlier this morning. But for the last 2 years now, Wipro's AI generative capability and center of excellence have conducted research with leading academic institutions, built accelerators and frameworks and develop deep competency through the Wipro AI Academy. Our AI practice has created several cross industry solutions for our clients, such as demand and revenue forecasting models, we've deployed AI in autonomous vehicles, improved supply chain efficiencies and driven efficiencies in quality in areas just content moderation. From this financial year, we are putting a much, much greater emphasis on our AI practice. Going forward, we aim to integrate AI into every platform, every tool and every solution used internally and offered to our clients. This will enable our clients to accelerate AI adoption and unleash a new era of value and productivity. Thierry will expand on this more in his remarks. As with every emerging technology, we are aware that AI will impact our work. It will impact us personally and our social life significantly. And we are committed to putting strong guardrails and governance models for its usage, both internally as well as externally. To us, this position of responsibility is an extension of our company's strong model center and sense of purpose, manifested in the sole of the company, what we call the spirit of Wipro. It is this spirit that binds together our employees, our customers, our shareholders, our partners and our communities. Over the past 4 years, I have personally continuously stressed upon the unique culture and values of Wipro and how it defines who we are as people. We truly believe in a holistic definition of culture which in our minds must include some key tenets: one, we must lead with purpose; two, we must support the well-being of our associates; three, we must sustain our communities; four, we must build an inclusive workplace; and finally, we must nurture a mindset that helps us realize our bold ambitions. Inclusion is a way of life at Wipro, and we strive to create and sustain a culture that encourages individual authenticity and offers a safe space for all 250,000-plus of our employees. Over the last few years, we have been making a very concerted effort to improve gender diversity in the company. And I'm incredibly proud to share the gender diversity at the senior leadership level has seen a threefold increase and is now at 17%. Enrich our sponsorship program for high-potential women leaders and dig in, again, our program for women who have taken a career break have encouraged more women to grow their careers at Wipro. In the U.S. the Disability Alliance Network, an employee resource group is accelerating our inclusion efforts and building welcoming spaces for all our associates. As with its people at Wipro, we believe that engagement with the social and environmental issues must be deep, meaningful and must show a long-term commitment. Our ESG programs are central to what we do as a business today. Over a decade ago, we made a deep commitment to battling the challenge posed by climate change, and I'm incredibly proud to share that we are getting closer to our stated goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. 60% of our owned facilities now use renewable energy. Our annual business travel in financial year '23 was down to 305 million kilometers against a goal of 595 million kilometers. We will continue to invest in solutions and behavioral change to reach our targets even as travel rebounds and our office occupancy increases. Through the Wipro Foundation, we continue to augment our work in education, health care and in urban ecology in India. Outside of India, we have launched a recalibrated Grants Program driven largely by the local chapters and leadership in 6 geographies around the world. In closing, let me express my deep gratitude to all of you, to our clients, our partners, our employees and other stakeholders who have placed their trust and their confidence in us. I'm incredibly excited and committed to the journey we are driving. I'm confident that we will come out stronger as we continue to scale new heights. Thank you again for your partnership. I would now like to invite our CEO and Managing Director, Mr. Thierry Delaporte to share his perspective on the year gone by. Thierry, over to you.

Thank you, Rishad. So good morning, everyone. Thank you for your trust and your belief in the incredible company, that is Wipro. It's been an absolute honor for me to lead this company for 3 years now. Wipro is an industry leader in technology services. It is trusted by thousands of clients, big and small, all around the world for the transformation and technology services needs. For 77 years, Wipro has operated as a responsible business. From the 250,000 associates who work with Wipro, to our clients, and the communities around us as well as to the planet we live in, our commitment has been to always be a force of good. And this, I'm very proud of. And it has always sets Wipro apart from everyone else. Another thing that sets Wipro apart is the magnitude of the transformation this firm has undertaken. As many of you know, in November 2020, we started what I would consider one of the biggest transformations in the IT industry and in our history. All efforts since then were focused on 5 key areas. If you remember, accelerating our revenue growth, improving our margins and bringing efficiencies across the organization, a deep portfolio rotations to double down our business offerings and proposition that actually our clients need, re-skilling our massive talent base and improving also employee experience and finally, further developing a winning culture. As a business, we have delivered strong financial performance in the fiscal year 2023. Your company, Wipro, is now an $11.2 billion company, growing 11.5% in constant currency terms. We -- [ Rishad ] said it will deliver 2 consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth. This is especially significant when you consider that the business environment has no doubt slowly and gradually weakened. Rishad talked about this briefly in his opening remarks. Fiscal year '23 saw robust order booking through the year. Bookings or this signed in total contract value terms, grew 28% year-on-year, which allowed us to finish the year with 2 consecutive quarters of total bookings of over $4.1 billion. We closed fiscal year '23 with 19 $100 million accounts compared to 11 in fiscal year '21. And we are not only winning at a higher rate in the market, but the nature of the deals we are winning is changing, too. I'll talk about this in a bit more detail later. We continue to build capabilities jointly with our strategic partners and drive large complex deals. As a result, the share of partner bookings as a percentage of our total bookings rose from 25% in fiscal year '20 to 44% in fiscal year '23. So this is remarkable because there has been a significant slowdown in several sectors over the last year. You all know that. And most of our clients are holding back on the expense. The results of fiscal year '23 reflect the trust we have built with our clients who are choosing to do business with us even when they are reducing their discretionary stance in an uncertain market. It is also a collaboration that our bold growth strategy was right and that we're moving in the right direction. But it also tells us that our single-minded focus on value creation for our clients on delivery excellence and innovation is the right strategy. And finally, it shows that the strategic investments we made whether acquisition, new capabilities or talent, to wear the right ones, ones that our clients need and appreciate. This past year, we switched up our operating model to a 4 by 4 structure, 4 strategic market units and 4 global business lines. This was a natural evolution of our business because, to be frank, we simply outgrew the initial model we had anticipated. We've now moved into our new organization model, and we are starting to see the benefits. And when we meet next year, I know that I will be able to share with you how it has further improved our market position because organizing around our strategic priorities areas, cloud, enterprise technology, engineering, consulting has given us the ability to adapt to changing market conditions and innovate even faster. By most accounts, we've closed the fiscal year at a significant improved place that where we began. We are getting stronger operationally and taking a more futuristic approach to our solutions. We have the growth mindset and the right organizational structure and talent, giving us resiliency for long-term success, whether it is our account strategy, large deal approach or sector and market mix, there's a clear and obvious difference between the Wipro before 2020 and the Wipro of today. Inshort the backdrop today is a bit uncertain. We know that. We are all watching closely the economic headwinds, the geopolitical conflicts but this is exactly why we know that our strategy will work. We will stay focused on our clients. We will continue to deliver excellence and efficiency, and we'll stay focused on our employees and our shareholders because we are above everything else, a people business. Now you know that we've continued to invest in our cloud transformation and cybersecurity capabilities over the last 2 years because cloud migration, cloud-based business models along with robust security measures have become pretty much the standard. Wipro's FullStride Cloud Services has realized our vision of being a value orchestrator, someone that seamlessly blends capability and thinking from business and technology and helps clients transform or realize their new business opportunities. And yet, we know that the future is cloud. Our industry, like every other industry is undergoing a seismic shift as we speak with the advancement of artificial intelligence. AI can and will fundamentally change every aspect of business. Anticipating this revolution, Wipro started investing and building AI capabilities over a decade ago. We have delivered over 2,000 global AI engagements during this time. We are already using generative AI for multiple use cases. We are ready for an AI-powered future. Today, we are launching Wipro ai360, our new AI first innovation ecosystem. ai360 builds on Wipro decade-long investments in artificial intelligence, with the goal of integrating AI into every platform, every tool and every solution that we use internally and that we offer to our clients. And we are committing to invest $1 billion to further advance our AI capabilities over the next 3 years. The $1 billion investment will help accelerate Wipro's data and analytics capabilities and foundation, R&D and platforms and in FullStride cloud and build new consulting capabilities to help clients adapt and unlock new value through AI. In achieving these goals, we will train all 250,000 of our employees on AI over the course of the next 12 months. We will continue to provide more customized ongoing training for employees in roles specializing on AI, of course. We will leverage our Decentralized Identity Credential Exchange or (DICE) ID, which is a blockchain-based platform to become the industry standard for AI skills credentialing. We will be prepared even as the demand for AI specialized talent growth exponentially over the coming years. Another investment area for us is talent. We have continued to invest in to people. Over the past year, we've trained over 50,000 employees in demand-driven scale. Next-gen associates, formerly cold freshers, continue to be a critical part of our talent strategy. The renaming of this group of colleagues is, you should see if there is a reflection of their value to our business and our commitment to their success. We hired over 22,000 next-gen associates in the fiscal year '23, the highest ever in our history. Our talent transformation efforts are yielding results. Results from our 2023 employee experience survey show that overall employee engagement has risen to 88%, which is an increase of 8% over the survey figures from 2021. Our people will always be our greatest asset. We will continue to invest in the development for sure, on simplifying processes, on reducing bureaucracy, all of that with the aim of enabling our employees to deliver the cutting-edge thinking and solutions that our clients expects from us. As you all will know, especially those of you who have been part of the company for many years, Wipro is more than just business. We've always operated with integrity and purpose and believe that our company has an important role to play in society. Wipro has always had a strong commitment to values and purpose. We've conducted business responsibly and stood by the principles of democracy, of justice and equality. As one of the only company that gives back 2/3 of its earnings to the communities, our shared sense of purpose is one of the main drivers of our success. During fiscal year '23, we contributed to positive impact on nearly 1.5 million children, including 17,000 children with disability and 150,000 young and expecting mothers. We've remained stay fast on our environmental, workplace and social stewardship as well. This is often called ESG in short, right? And now on net zero goal during FY '23, we increased our renewable energy share from 48% to nearly 60% during the year. We have a clear road map and a plan for our interim goals all the way to 2030. Our strategic integrated approach to ESG is reflected in several recognition. For example, we are a third time member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, a unique track record in our sector. The past few years have been truly transformative for Wipro. The changes we made to our operations and the organizational structures as well as the new capabilities we built are changing how the market, how our clients see us. Clients are now turning to us for help on some of their Boundaryless business and technology transformation goals. They are looking to us to design new solutions, to orchestrate across ecosystems. So they can act with the agility and innovation they need. So as we kick off fiscal year 2024, we remain committed to helping our clients, our employees, partners, stakeholders, realize their ambitions and transform their most complex challenges. Before I close, I want to thank our employees across the globe, who make this all possible, who show up every day with passion, energy and commitment. I would also like to thank you our shareholders for your continued trust in us. Back to you, Rishad.

Thanks, Thierry. The notice of the 77th Annual General Meeting and the annual report containing the audited financial statements, including the consolidated financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2023, and the Board's and the auditor's reports have been sent by electronic mode to those members whose e-mail addresses are registered with the company or with our depositories. These documents have also been made available on the company's website. Considering the above, the notice has been taken as read. Our statutory auditors, Deloitte, have submitted their report for the financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2023. The auditor's report does not contain any qualifications or modified opinion or adverse remarks. There being no qualifications, the entire report is not required to be read in this meeting and the auditor's report is being taken as read. In terms of the notice of the 77th Annual General Meeting, the following items of ordinary business are to be considered at this meeting: one, to receive, consider and adopt the audited financial statements of the company, including the consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2023. Together with the reports, of the directors and the auditors thereon; two, to confirm the interim dividend of INR 1 per share declared by the Board on January 13, 2023, as the final dividend for the financial year '22-'23; and three, to consider appointment of a director in place of Mr. Thierry Delaporte, DIN number 08107242, who retires by rotation and being eligible, offers himself up for reappointment. We will now be glad to take any -- and answer any questions on the financial statements or any other matters from our shareholders. The Insta Poll e-voting facility will now be activated for members who are participating in this meeting and have not already voted through remote e-voting. The Insta Poll facility will remain active up to 30 minutes after this meeting. We will commence the Q&A session in a few seconds. Thank you. [Presentation]

Welcome back. I now request Sanaulla Khan, our Company Secretary, to share a few guidelines for the Q&A session. Sana, over to you.

Thank you, Rishad. Dear shareholders, in order to ensure a very smooth interaction and participation, I request all of you to note the following guidelines for the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions]. Can we now have the first set of 5 -- to ask the question is Mr. Sadananda Sastry.

Good morning. I am Sadananda Sastry from [indiscernible] [Technical Difficulty] Sir, I report to Page #9. It is said that the company has 9,000-plus cyber secure excess. What can't the company find out gives us to eradicate cybercrimes, which are increasing [indiscernible]. Page #17. Chairman sir, in your letter to shareholders, you have given clear picture of the company. But however, your specimen signature was not needed. [Technical Difficulty]. A few years back, [Technical Difficulty]. I hope you have understood the pulse of my statement and take it in good [Technical Difficulty] 56% foreign nationals, we are 44% are India. Considering the majority, you have any proposal to convert [Technical Difficulty] the company. Page #66. Actually, Page #24, financial performance, net income to turnover PBAT, profit before tax and attributable profit slipped down this year, '22-'23. What is the reason? Page #66. Employee wellbeing [Technical Difficulty]. Page # [Technical Difficulty] to our balance sheet. In trade receivables, disputed as [indiscernible] more than 3 years, amounting INR 2, amounting to INR 4,664 million, still continuing. It is on the higher side, which may go bad also. How do you monitor and what steps you have you are taking for realization? Equities. Equities are mounting high when it goes beyond 70 times of capital. This is the right? Hello? Am i Audible Sir?. [indiscernible] since a year around, there is a capital market the rumors are there for bonus shares, it is the right time to declare the bonus shares. Company can declare bonus shares and fulfill the breath of shareholders with these borrowings, reduces, finance costs come down. Lastly, In P&L [Technical Difficulty]] other expenses, that's not match. It should be [Technical Difficulty] Breakups not given properly. [indiscernible] of direct expenses with other expenses items would be improper. Accuracy defeated here, figures are not [indiscernible] each other. Some area is predicted. Please clarify it. Thank you very much. See you in next year, [indiscernible]. Thank you very much.

Then we have the next speaker, please, Mr. [ Santosh Kumar Saraf ]. Can you ask your question? Mr. [ Saraf ], are you able to hear me? Can you please ask your question, Mr. [ Saraf ]. If Mr. [ Saraf ] is not available, can we move to the next shareholder [ Manoj Kumar Gupta]. Mr. Gupta, are you able to hear me?

Hello, Can you hear me?

Yes.

Hello. Good morning, respective Chairman Board of Directors, fellow shareholders.

Mr. Gupta, you can just reduce your volume from your side. So we all hear you better. It's very loud, please.

Okay. Sir, first of all, I pay my respect to our Founder, Chairman, Azir Premji. [Foreign Language] Our respected Chairman, Board of Directors, fellow shareholders. My name is [ Manoj Kumar Gupta ], I'm equity shareholder of Wipro, I have joined this meeting from Kolkata , my residence. And I thanks to our MD for his nice presentation, and thanks to our Chairman for his inspiring speech to the shareholders. And Thanks to -- I congratulate you on your massive success of buyback. And so What's your future plan for the next 2 to 3 years and what's your plan for the Middle East and the U.S. And sir, what impact will come on our company direct or indirect of the war, the Russian War and impact of inflation and sir you are doing a lot of work for the society, community and [indiscernible] country under the Wipro Foundation and the Azim Premji Foundation. So you should try to consider something for this region also for Kolkata, the city of Joy. I got to answer my live our data founder and Chairman, Azim Premji live in Kolkata. So I request to consider something, and I'm very happy to see that [indiscernible] in our Board. And what's your view on the solar energy to use the solar energy in our offices and our premises to see the energy cost. And once again, I request you [indiscernible] and please convey our best wishes to our founder, Azim Premji I pray God for his healthy and prosperity long life. And sir, we hope that you will do something for Kolkata also under your CSR project to help the peoples in the medical or health education. Thank you, sir.

And we now have the next shareholder, [indiscernible]. If you're online, can you please ask your question. Are you able to hear me [indiscernible]. If [indiscernible] is not online, can we have [ Naveen Bothra ], the next shareholder to ask this question, Mr. Bothra, please. Are you able to hear me Mr. Bothra? We can't hear you. Can you unmute yourself and ask your question please go ahead, We can't hear you Mr. Bothra. We still can't hear you.

Do you want to come back -- Sana, maybe I think the gentleman on the screen, I think, was able to unmute earlier.

Yes. Mr. [ Saraf ], are you able to hear me?

Yes. Yes, sir. I can speak.

Please go ahead and ask your question, Mr. [ Saraf ]. Thank you.

Respected chairman, Board members and my fellow shareholders, my name is [indiscernible], especially I'm going to start my brother Azim Premji sir . And thank you, your management and your employee are very good result sir. And I also thank to your management and your teams as a buyback of this year through tender route, sir. It is when it gets to us, we get nice returns. So I drive you in the state of bonus always try to buy back share, do we can get direct benefits sir? And I also thank to our secretary and his team members, again, cordially relations, sir. Sir, I already send some question at the time of the [indiscernible] but in [indiscernible] they give very good discretion of retail. Regarding artificial intelligence Sir, I want to know the future artificial intelligence in the -- what is the company plan by the future sir and what new technology introduced by company to add new clients in our company growth. Also, I want to say the VC meeting is very good, sir, where basically people from America and outside city joined sir. In the future continue with this. Once again, I wish for all our person those are present in today's meeting, along with my employee, [indiscernible] presented to the meeting for good health for coming years. Thank you, sir, for giving you our [indiscernible] . once again.

Rishad, we will go with the answering of the questions so far. So that...

You want to see Mr. [indiscernible] is unmuted now or you want to just take it quickly -- please.

Mr. Borthra, are you able to hear me? Mr. Bothra, can you ask your question? Mr. Borthra are you able to hear me? Rishad, maybe we will answer the question and check back for Borthra..

Thank you, Mr. Sastry, Mr. Gupta, Mr. Saraf for your questions. One, the founder appreciates all the kind comments you've said. I'll try and answer as many questions and hand over the one I can't to Thierry and to Jatin. Your comment on cybersecurity as noted, as you will appreciate, it's one of our most successful, most promising, growing and highly profitable practices. We've invested tremendously in this business over the last 3 years and it is continuing to show great results. And we also do a fair amount of work for our customers to help keep them safe and certainly, cybercrime is one of those components as well. Your comment on the signature is noted and Sana has noted that. Your comment on the director mix being 44% foreign directors and 56%. The reality is that 91% of our -- 93% of our business comes from overseas. And so we want a Board that represents our businesses, We wants a Board that represents where our clients are based, where we serve and where many of our employees are based. And so we think that having a very strong diverse board is very advantageous to us. And so we will continue to try and drive that diversity and globalization on our Board, and that's the reason to have it. Your point is not lost on any of us that the profit after tax for financial year '22-'23 is down. One of the main reasons for that is that we have invested ahead of the curve deeply in our talent, particularly in Q1 and Q2 of '22-'23. We've also invested in some of M&As. But as you will appreciate, we've had a substantive bounce back from where our margins were in Q1 at 15% to 15.1% to 16.3% in quarter 4. And our focus remains deeply on also driving significant operational efficiency as we move forward. So the comment on profit is well noted. Your comment on wellbeing of all our stakeholders, including our shareholders, is well noted. As you will appreciate, we've just completed the largest buyback in the history of the company at INR 12,000 crores. And our commitment to distribute 45% to 50% of net income on an average of 3 years remains unchanged, and we will continue to honor and drive that as we move forward as well. You had some comments on the balance sheet and on the P&L, which I'll get to Jatin to answer as well as some comment on other expenses, right? Your comment on bonus shares is noted, but as I said, we've just -- we find different ways to return to shareholders and the buyback has just been something we've just completed on deep scale. Mr. Gupta also mentioned this, and I appreciate and acknowledge our appreciation for this. The U.S. and the Middle East, you asked specifically about, Mr. Gupta. The Middle East is an important strategic market for Wipro. It has been for many, many years, and we continue to invest. We continue to grow, and we continue to differentiate ourselves in the market. So please rest assured that it will remain an important market for us. The U.S. is also our largest market, and it is the largest spender of technology. So it will remain very much our core and our biggest market and very much front and center of all our focus as we move forward. You mentioned a lot of the comments on the macro environment, which I and Thierry both shared in our opening comments, and that's certainly one of the elements that is creating some uncertainty in the world today, it is certainly showing up in discretionary spend, which has slowed down. More and more of our customers are focusing on cost optimization as opposed to discretionary spending. And so to your question, it is having impact on how the business is unfolding. Your comment on solar energy, as both Thierry and I mentioned, 60% of the energy consumed on all our own campuses today is renewable energy as a part of our commitment to transform to net zero, it will move to 100% by 2030. So it's very, very much front and center for us. So I'll hand it over to Thierry to talk a little bit about AI because one of -- Mr. Saraf, you asked about AI and then perhaps Jatin can take a few specific questions on the balance sheet and on the P&L. So Thierry, if you want to say a few things that.

Yes, absolutely. So good morning. So the -- as you mentioned, we are dealing with technology every day. And technology is an area where there's constant evolution. What we observed with AI and in particular, with the latest progression on the generative AI is the way artificial intelligence will transform or is transforming most of the businesses around the world, across industries. The way this -- the ability of artificial intelligence is empowering people and driving productivity up. And therefore, as an organization, how do we leverage this technology to be more efficient, more productive. But for doing so, it requires people to be trained. It requires people to understand all the different aspects of applications of AI and generative AI for different industries. It could be leveraging generative AI to drive conversational -- to have conversational assistance. You can leverage generative AI, as you know, to write code, right? So this is transforming the life of software engineering or the way we are working on R&D projects. And so this is an exciting journey. The wonderful news is that Wipro is very well positioned. Actually, is an absolute leader in our industry already and will continue as announced today with this ambitious plan to invest $1 billion over the next 3 years across AI and data, and you will see us more at the forefront of the way AI is transforming industries around the world. Thank you. Jatin, to you.

Yes. Thank you, Thierry, and thank you. I will answer Mr. Sastry's questions first. So thank you very much for taking time and going through our balance sheet in the depth in which we have gone through. Let me respond to your first question on Page 304 Note 28. As you've noticed, the staff recruitment expenses have been reclassified from previous year from miscellaneous expenses to legal and professional charges because we felt that it's the right place to account for it. And accordingly, we have reclassified FY '22 numbers as well, and that's the clarification to your question. The second question on the overdue debt. So sir, you very well know, we are a large company. Our revenues for fiscal '23 were INR 90,000 crores and in that proportion, this overdue or disputed data's are very, very insignificant numbers. In fact, I can share with you, and it is mentioned in our Board -- in our annual report that last year, our operating cash flow was 115% of our net income, which is industry-leading by any standard. So we are very conscious of the cash conversion. Just to further give you comfort, the numbers for overdue debtors was INR 788 crores in the previous year, which is FY '22, which has come down to INR 465 crores in FY '23. So we are continuing to put our efforts to collect this money so that it continues to reduce and it continues to improve its trajectory. So this is the response to your second question. And lastly, to Mr. Gupta, your question, around using solar energy. As Thierry mentioned in his speech, we have improved the use of renewable energy in our consumption from 48% of the total energy consumption to 60% in fiscal '23 and I can share that in some of the states like Karnataka, we are upwards of 80% in renewable energy consumption and a large component of that is coming through solar. So we are making right progress in line with our overall ESG framework to continue to use more and more renewable sources of energy.

And can we move to the next set?

Yes. Thank you. So we now move to the next set of shareholders. The first to go is [indiscernible] from [ Chennai ]. Mr. [ Ravichandran ], can you please switch on your mic and also the camera and ask your question. Thank you. Can we have Mr. [ Ravichandran ] on screen, please.

Good morning, dear Chairman, and the other Board members and also the fellow shareholders who are attending the meeting. I have 7 points. I'm a shareholder for the last 12 years, 13 years to be precise. So I'm a shareholder since 2010. And whatever the analysts may be saying on the market may be reviewing have seen good returns from the investments we approved. So I have no problems. I have no complaints on my investments in Wipro, maybe the timing is -- was right as far as I'm concerned. But I have 7 points to note. Some of them are clarificatory and some of them I need to understand. First point is I read a report recently in [indiscernible]. It's a 1-page report on Wipro wherein it was mentioned that the MTN CEO [indiscernible] was supposed to relocate to USA within 6 months. But even after 3 years, I understand he is not relocated as per the report. So I would like to -- I need clarification from you. And also the impact, if any, on the operations because of non-relocation. This is point number one. Point number 2 is the [ MDM ] CEO about INR 82 crores. Whereas the next salary if I note, it is less than INR 10 crores. Does it mean that Wipro doesn't have the leadership pipeline. Who can succeed or take over from the current MD. This also we would like to clarify. Point number 3 is, you are totally different on services. You're providing IT products as a complementary to your services to the clients. Why not look at manufacturing IT products, IT or telecom products, which may India needs products, it is currently importing a lot from overseas. And the current government is emphasizing on [indiscernible] does introduce [ PLA ] and lots of other incentives for manufacturing. So -- and the manufacturing products, we give some kind of cushion. There is volatility in the services sector. So this is more as a suggestion. Point number 4 is on the revenue. I see the incremental revenue is about INR 8,179 crores. The increase in employee costs, including the subcontracting charges is about INR 6,723 crores. If you compare the corresponding contribution of the incremental costs, employee costs and the revenue, it is negligible. Does it represent -- one of my previous shareholder has asked and it was clarified, it's a classification problem. If it is classification problem, it is all right. Otherwise, is it a onetime impact? Or does it have any -- is it because of lower product [indiscernible]. So this also I would like to clarify. Point number 5 is all IT companies are cash rich. And you have borrowed INR 5175 crores. You can explain the reasons for the borrowing. See, there is a finance cost of INR 629 crores. I don't know if it is due to this borrowing or you know it was temporarily borrowed and it will be repaid. I do not know you may like to clarify. Point #6 is there is a provision of INR 560 crores for the diminution in value of investments. Is it likely to be reversed? Or is it a onetime or it's a permanent loss? This also you may like to clarify. And my last point is trade payables. So there is an amount of about INR 800 crores or something like that, which is unpaid after the due date. I'm not talking about unbilled or not due outstanding. Outstanding remaining unpaid after the due date. The companies like Wipro should not be having -- see I find some amount in as due for more than 3 years. The cash-rich companies, I don't think -- see if it is disputed, it is fine, but they don't seem to be disputed. And it is remaining unpaid. So this also you may like to clarify.

We'll do that. Thank you.

Thanks, [indiscernible].

And all the best for the...

Thank you very much.

Can we move to the next shareholder?

[ Shrenik ] Mehta. Mr. Mehta, please ask your question, sir.

Am I audible, sir?

Yes, please go ahead, sir.

To our Founder Chairman, Azim Premji, sir; the Executive Chairman, Rishad Premji, other Board of Directors; CEO, Delaporte; Company Secretary, [ Lakhan ]; and other members. Myself, [ Shrenik ] Mehta, by profession, I'm a retired advocate, age wise 70, and port city of Jamnagar, Gujarat . My [indiscernible] number is [ IM30097810028000 ]. That is my first introduction and by profession, I am a sub-broker on a NS Investors protection. First of all, I would like to thank all the Board members and the secretary team for giving me an opportunity to speak today. First of all, I would like to congratulate you for this fourth [indiscernible] in last about 5, 6 years. Two times our shareholding was accepted about 100%. This time, it is accepted 77% and one time it was accepted 60% . So that's a good policy of returning profit to the shareholder. First of all, [indiscernible] I would like to draw your attention to January '23, you had declared dividend of INR 1 per share. It has got no [indiscernible] in today. [indiscernible] you have to cut the PDS from our [indiscernible] account. And it creates a lot of work with the part of the company you are to deposit with the income tax department. We have to show it in our income dividend and we have to [indiscernible]. So it is -- as a minority shareholder, it is my humble request, if you want to declare this dividend, declare a big amount. Otherwise, you opt for a [indiscernible], that is a good way. So in the future, it is my humble suggestion to declare dividend of INR 1 or INR 2. Regarding AGM. [indiscernible] instead of 09:30 in the morning. I'm a market participant so [indiscernible] our AGM. [indiscernible] I'm losing my trading on [indiscernible] Stock Exchange. so my humble request is [indiscernible] request an [indiscernible] to held AGM after share market hours and [indiscernible] accepted my request and now we are conducting meeting after share market hours is over. [indiscernible] if any announcement on the -- which is on the corporate action or which is market sensitive, it should be declared after market hours. So there is a -- about artificial intelligence, Mr. Delaporte, has [indiscernible]today morning, I was listening to [indiscernible]. There was a breaking news about [indiscernible] of our workers will be paying for artificial intelligence. So please, if you can, if you can throw some more light how it will benefit our company and profitability. Now I'm addressing to our CEO, Delaporte. Delaporte, what I'm telling is without prejudice and with a bona fide intention. When you joined the company, Indian [indiscernible] market was hoping very [indiscernible] from you. Sale price of our -- share price of Wipro went up to INR [ 735 ]. I mean [indiscernible], it went down to [indiscernible] and today's market price is INR 392. In past, you might have very good work where you might be working before Wipro. India share market was hoping too much from you, but I'm sorry to tell you, sir, you have not done much for Wipro as per your past record, which look into this matter. These were with [indiscernible] intention and no negative intention.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. [ Mehta ]. We will now go to the next shareholder please. Thank you, Mr. [ Mehta ]. Can we go to the next shareholder, [ Ashish Kumar Pathak ].

Am I audible, sir?

Yes.

Am I audible?

Yes, you are, Mr. [ Pathak ].

Good morning. respected Founder Chairman, Chairman, MD and CEO and Board of Directors. My name is [ Ashish Kumar Pathak ], joining from Kolkata. The remarkable representations from our respected Chairman and MD, I have noted several valuable points. Sir, my small [indiscernible] like share, decent situation as on financial year '24, any impact in global operation due to higher inflation, mostly in the U.S.A. and geopolitical turbulence and [indiscernible] slow economy. If possible, throw some highlights. After a marked slowdown, IT sectors have started seeing some green shoots and even started in July '23. And [indiscernible] percent increase average of [indiscernible] if possible, throw some highlights as of second quarter, our strategies for hiring and any -- and also [ GCT ], [ R&D ] and [indiscernible] is robust despite larger [ tech ] companies go down. So CapEx program for this is possible, some highlights. And CapEx program for next 2, 3 years, mostly our respective Chairman mentioned about engineering age and consulting, cyber security risks and on-strike cloud and most of other service products, if possible throw some highlights and the order booking status and on second quarter financial year '24 and attrition rate. My previous speaker here also about mentioned about given payout. That I noticed 5.39% of the stand-alone profit is dividend payout, which is INR 1 per equity share, maybe entitled final additional dividend. Also, thanks to my company's management team for buyback scheme and my view is that the buyback scheme is fully [indiscernible], yes or no, if possible throw some highlights. And about bonus here, my previous speaker also mentioned, sir, my only -- if you can, don't take it [indiscernible] our debt reduction policy because I mentioned here debt is INR 15,009 crores, if mentioned. And finally, how my company face the challenges because the AI CEO last visited India for enhanced that AI and ChatGPT. And this ChatGPT is also in pipelines. So how my company management teams are preparing for come out of these challenges. Thanking you. I have nothing to say more. I pray to God, everybody good health and prosperity of my company. Thanking you, sir.

Thank you, Mr. [ Pathak ]. Can we have the next shareholder, [ Denit Dadoo ]? Please go ahead, ma'am.

Good morning, respected Chairperson and members of the Board. My name is [ Denit Dadoo ], folio number 60877758, President of Millennium Mams,, Bangalore Chapter and a proud shareholder of Wipro. Sir, my question is, it is a common belief that tech companies do not have a moat. Do you believe in this? If not, then what do you see the moat of a company now and going forward? Secondly, sir, do you see this global uncertainty as an opportunity, especially in offshoring?

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. [ Dadoo ]. Your question is very precise, and we will answer it in some time. I will move now to the next shareholder, [ Rishikesh Chopra ]. Mr. [ Chopra ], can you please unmute your microphone and ask your question, too. Mr. [ Chopra ], are you there? Okay. Since we are unable to get Mr. [ Chopra ] on the line, I request [indiscernible] the question and we'll [indiscernible].

Yeah. So let me -- I will do that. Thank you. Thank you to all of you for your questions. Mr. [ Ravichandran ], I am going to please start with you. First of all, thank you for being a shareholder for the last 13 years. We truly appreciate it. Your comments on the [indiscernible] theory being based in France as opposed to being based in the U.S. This is a strategic call we made as an organization, given the fact that our business is global, given the fact that our customers are based all the way from the U.S. to Europe, to India to the Middle East, Asia to [indiscernible] in the best interest of the company for Thierry to be based centrally in Europe and have easy access to both the East and the West. So it was very much an intentional calculated call for us as an organization to drive that. And I just want to reemphasize, given the context that you referred to the article that Thierry has my full support and the full support of the Board as he takes the company forward. Two, you refer to the salary of the CEO. Let me just point out in terms of the technicality that the recognition of the salary is done on an accrual basis because it's an amortization of both restricted stock units, which are done on a time-vested basis and performance stock units. And we have benchmarked this closely and very much believe for a company of our size and repute that Thierry's compensation is very much well benchmarked within that. And the other point, which is minute to note is also the fact that because it's reported in rupees and the salary and the currency has moved in terms of both the dollar and euro that also looks more exaggerated. You had a comment on services and getting into the product business. We have no intention of becoming a hardware manufacturer and getting into products, manufacturing on the telecom side or on the hardware side. The one thing we will certainly focus on is how do we build more productized services. So how do we leverage IP and our capabilities to take differentiated solutions to customers. And we have many examples of that in the company, which we will continue to drive. But our core will very much remain a services and a productized services company. We're not going to be building hard core physical stuff. I will let Jatin come to the comment on revenue and expenses at the right point. Your comment on borrowings, the reason for borrowing is not a reflection of lack of cash. It's a reflection of just think strategically smart. We believe we can borrow cheaper and invest more impactfully. And so that's the logic for borrowing, when on occasion, we do borrow as a company. I will let Thierry -- I will let Jatin also answer the question on the value of those investments of INR 560 crores and for the trade payables. Mr. [ Mehta ], your comment on the buyback is appreciated. I also appreciate your comment on the dividend. This is a thing we wrestle with and think about all the time, but we think about returns to shareholders as a combination of dividends and buybacks, and there are some shareholders that do like dividends. There are some shareholders that do like buybacks, but we think about them holistically. Your comment on AGM timing is noted and we will try and take that into consideration as we move forward. We are incredibly, incredibly sensitive and maintain the highest standards of governance or any piece of information that we believe is market moving. We don't believe the information on AI has any market moving sensitivity. It's an investment we have called out that we are going to make over the next 3 years. So it's something that we felt was quite logical and fair to make when we made it. And so that point is appreciated. I also appreciate your point on the share price, and we all appreciate that as an organization, as a Board. The reality is we feel we are making the right investments. The organization has grown double digits last year. As I said, profitability is down because we made investments ahead of time. But we believe the investments we are making as a company, we believe we are moving very much in the right direction, and we don't control the markets, but hopefully, that will sort of follow as the performance of the organization continues to develop on the investments we've made. Mr. [ Pathak ], we've talked about -- I couldn't fully hear you. So I'm not sure if I'll be able to answer all your questions. But we continue to invest in areas of investment. Certainly, AI is an area that Thierry -- [indiscernible] is an area that Thierry called out, but the areas of cloud, the areas of cybersecurity, the areas of engineering are very core and very central to the organization, and we will continue to invest in that. You also had a question on dividend and buyback. And again, the same answer holds through, which is we think about this holistically. We continue to maintain a payout of 45% to 50% of net income, which we have, and we will continue very much to be focused on that as we move forward as well. Then you had some questions on AI, which we've answered earlier, so I would not request Thierry to repeat that. You can also get a chance to see our press release, which I think is quite comprehensive and talks about the areas that we are investing in. And the last question on the opportunity for tech services. Look, I'm a huge believer that there's tremendous opportunity for IT services and tech services globally. Organizations need an enormous amount of support to leverage technologies, to build relevant use cases, to solve relevant problems in their specific context and environment. So I think there's a huge advantage there. And I think India as a country has a huge advantage in terms of the talent base. That talent base will continue to grow, and it's the responsibility of companies like ourselves to continue to invest and reskill and uptrain that talent to be relevant for new technologies as we move forward. So I remain and we remain incredibly bullish about the opportunity that unfolds over the next several years. For the industry holistically and certainly for us, as a company as well. So Jatin, do you want to just answer some of the specific financial questions, please?

Yes. So I'll respond to 3 questions of Mr. [ Ravichandran ]. The first was around the lower contribution margin coming through the revenue led by employees, and we clarified that earlier that indeed, in FY '23, we invested ahead of time in building the talent. And therefore, it was not so that the entire cost of employees was deployed in generating revenue. And therefore, there was a timing mismatch and therefore, the contribution to that extent was lower in the earlier part of FY '23. The second question and third question, I'll combine. Sir, the financials that you are referring to is the stand-alone financials of Wipro Limited, and therefore, 2 of your questions, the one regarding the reduction in value of an investment, which is a subsidiary value, I would clarify to say that typically when we go to a geography, we have our own branch to operate with, and we have our subsidiary to operate with. Sometimes the business come -- continues to come through the branch, and we don't get the business from subsidiary to that extent. Now to that extent, we reduced the value of subsidiary, but there is no impact on consolidated financials of Wipro. So there is no impact on the reported revenue profits or earnings per share. It is only an accounting adjustment to truly reflect the business that we are getting from, that particular subsidiary in that particular geography. And therefore, I would request you to not regard that as a significant point to assess the overall performance of the company. And equally, the INR 800 crores of trade payables that you referred to, you refer to the stand-alone financials of the company. And there, we do have challenges that we are not able to take. Sometimes the money out of a particular geography and it is intercompany payables and receivables to the extent we are not able to settle because of regulatory challenges in respective geographies that is appearing there. I can assure you that we don't have any overdue trade payables to a third party that Wipro owns money to, and that number is insignificant, even if you look at 90 days, 365 days or 3-year thresholds, as they are normally seen in these terms. So these are the responses, Mr. [ Ravichandran ].

Thank you. Now we'll move to the next set of shareholders, please. Can we have Mr. [ Vijay Gambhir ]?

Mr. [ Vijay ], please switch on your video and audio and ask your question.

I once again request the shareholders to be precise with their questions so that all the shareholders will get a chance to speak at the meeting. Thank you.

Mr. [ Vijay ], please go ahead. Can we have Mr. [ Vijay ], please? If Mr. [ Vijay ] is not able to come online, can we get [ Kaushik Shahukar ]?

[Foreign Language]

Okay. Thank you. We are able to hear your question, Mr. Vijay. We have noted. We'll revert back to you. Can we move to the next shareholder, [ Kaushik Shahukar ]? Mr. [ Kaushik ]? If Mr. [ Kaushik ] is not able to come online. Yes, Mr. [ Kaushik ], please go ahead. We're able to see you. Please unmute yourself. You have to unmute your microphone, sir? Kindly unmute your microphone, please? We can't hear you, Mr. [ Kaushik ]. Can we move to the next shareholder, Mr. [ Reddeppa Konduru ]?

Thank you, company secretary for giving this opportunity. First of all, my Chairman, [Foreign Language]. Sir, my name is [ Reddeppa Konduru ]. I'm from Hyderabad. I'm a financial adviser, sir. Sir, as a shareholder, I'm very proud about the my company performance of financial '23. Mr. Chairman and also MD CEO has given a very good information about my company performance, financial '23. And also, sir, we have -- I have received the annual report well in advance, I have gone through all the annual report with the entire information, it's a wonderful information able to know, sir. And also very colorful, informative each and everything, sir. So that is reason and special thanks, kudos to all the [ KMPs in ] company and also especially companies [indiscernible] making this annual report is very difficult to create, sir. Sir, salary [Foreign Language]. And also sir, corporate governance, sir. Under leadership of all the other salesmen that are also with company secondary, there is a world-class [indiscernible]. I have not seen other companies being transparent in governance, ethically [indiscernible] created my company with ethics and value, Mr. [indiscernible]. As a shareholder, I have very good memories at physical AGM, I met Azim sir, Rishad Azim and [indiscernible] sir I guess. We'll learn so many things. The [indiscernible] as an investor, as a shareholder, as an entrepreneur, as an adviser, a lot of things I used to implement in my life also. Thank you, sir. Sir, financial parts. So congrats for $11,000 billion revenue [indiscernible] it's a wonderful side, my company is a very good part. Strong consistent performance, Mr. Chairman, MD, sir. Thank you for giving us also -- always my company is given to [indiscernible] to the shareholders, investors. There is a recently buyback also you have announced, sir. What a wonderful company [indiscernible]. Sir, my company is how [indiscernible] we have in the growth mindset in the humility mentality [indiscernible]. Wonderful, sir. Thank you for the growth mindset, sir. Sir, I would like to thank -- please give me 1 minute, sir, this is a chance. My company is performing well. I wanted to -- I wanted to [indiscernible] that reason, please give me 1 minute extra. Sir, we have seen the -- lot of awards, especially the Google Cloud partner award of the year, announced a Microsoft partner of the winner and also other AWS. So many, sir. Thank you so much, sir. As usual, every year, our getting and also next year current financial also we will achieve. Thank you so much, sir. [indiscernible] I have a question also. So I'm concluding, sir, please give me 1 minute, sir. So my question is, sir. What is the impact on -- what is the impact on our business and geopolitical issues? And what is acquired -- the company's policy, strategic policy, what you are implementing? And also, sir, please comment on AI, sir. Nowadays, AI is a very good real -- so whatever projects we are having AI. And also, sir, cloud projects. How many cloud projects we are having or solution we are giving? And also what is the -- I would like to know what is the cloud concept. Can you please briefly -- cloud is a very fantastic solution? Sir, the other expenses parts are steeply increased from INR [ 2,903 ] million versus INR 11,015 million. So what is the steep increase in other expenses, sir, I would like to know, sir. Sir, these are to my observation, sir. Thank you so much for giving this opportunity. [indiscernible] leadership, sir.

Mr. [ Yunos Ringwala ], please? Mr. [ Yusof Yunos Ringwala ]? Mr. [ Yusof ], can you ask your question, please?

Good afternoon. [Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]. Please go ahead. .

Good afternoon, sir. [Foreign Language]. I am speaking from city of Mumbai. Sir, I'm very happy and very proud to be excellent company secretary, Mr. Sanaulla Khan. [Foreign Language]. Very excellent and very handsome and very colorful. [Foreign Language] for example, Santoor, [Foreign Language] I'm very happy. [Foreign Language] what is your total number of expenses and what are the new products in the [indiscernible] dividend? I would like to know, which is a new flavor. [Foreign Language] we are on of the leader and [Foreign Language] Infosys, [ TCS ] [Foreign Language]. How is our Chairman, give my regard. Our excellent Chairman [Foreign Language] for that, I'm very thankful for the debt, sir. Many years past, many 2 years past that I request for a model issue or whether we can dividend INR 1 or INR 2, sir, that is very good, very handsome. I'm very happy, sir. [indiscernible]

[Foreign Language] Thank you so much.

Can we go to the next shareholder?

[Foreign Language] Thank you very much. May God bless our company and [Foreign Language] I would like to meet our company's Chairman [indiscernible] Delaporte. [Foreign Language] Thank you very much, sir. [Foreign Language] Thank you very much, sir. [Foreign Language]

Thank you so much for that. Can we go to the next shareholder, please? [ Sunil Kumar Moda ]?

Can you hear me, sir?

Yes, please go ahead.

Good morning to all. Good morning to Mr. Azim Premji, our respected owner, Chairman and [indiscernible]. And good morning to respected Chairman of the meeting, Board of Directors, MD, company secretary, my fellow shareholders. I am [ Sunil Moda ] joining this [indiscernible] from my residence at Calcutta. My number is 120109 [indiscernible]. From being a family-run vegetable oil manufacturers in 1945, which was established as a diversified global business and technology consulting leader. We are proud that we are the shareholders who can buy a company like Wipro. Significant slowdown of various sectors during and after COVID-19, our company has seen very good performance, very good results. Double digit growth over 2 consecutive years of our company platform. Thanks for [indiscernible]. Small shareholders benefited a lot. Mr. Sanaulla, secretary, and his team, helped a lot to us all shareholders and maintained good relations. Thank you, Mr. Sanaulla and his team. Sir, very good industrial switch by Chairman and MDs. Very good, very informative, very impressive future. Sir, I would like to know road map of our company for next 2, 3 years. And also, how much employment do you provide current year and coming years. With this, I conclude my piece. Thank you very much. [Foreign Language]

Can we go to the next set of shareholders now, please? We will answer the questions after that. And the next shareholder is Mr. [ Mohammad Qureshi ]. Can we have the next set of shareholders?

If we can't get Mr. [ Qureshi ], we should move.

Yes. Can we have the next set of shareholders?

[indiscernible]. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, [indiscernible], and good morning to everybody attending this AGM. Myself [indiscernible], your equity shareholder from Kolkata. Thank you, sir for providing with the platform to speak something before you and [indiscernible] adjusted for helping me [indiscernible] speaker shareholder. Thank you. This is my first AGM. Only due to virtual. Though I am your new shareholder. It is just an opportunity for me to attend this AGM sitting in Kolkata. If possible, please follow this virtual AGM in next year also. I have one request. Please split our shares in the ratio of 2:1, so that more and more small investors could joined our company, I will not say to issue bonus here, but I insist for split. Beauty of our company. We are giving handsome return to governments in the form of different taxes. We are giving handsome return to our employees and directors in the form of salaries and allowances. We are giving handsome return to our shareholders in the form of dividends, bonus shares, splits, buyback of sales. We are giving handsome return to the society in the form of CSR. Our Founder Chairman is giving handsome donations to the different section of our society. It is a very good thing and much we appreciated. I have 2, 3 queries in my mind. First, how many new clients we added in the current year in India and in abroad? Second, in U.S., so many banks are becoming bankrupt these days. How much our company will be affected due to these closures? Third, artificial intelligence, sometime back, we were talking about cloud technology, but today, we are talking about AI. How much this AI effect in employment generations? Is it dangerous for the human beings as well as nature because sometimes back, I was reading a news article in which the inventor of this AI was regretting for his invention and later on, he left his job. Every invention should be used for the betterment of human beings. Technology should not supersede human beings. [indiscernible] please share your views. [indiscernible], please maintain your smiles and be cheerful. [indiscernible] always. [indiscernible] Thank you.

Mr. [ Qureshi ], can you ask your question? Mr. [ Qureshi ], are you able to hear me? If Mr. [ Qureshi ] is not coming online, can we have the next shareholder, [ Antariksh Ahale ]? Mr. [ Ahale ], can you unmute your microphone and ask your question? Can we have Mr. [ Dilip Kumar Jain ]? Yes. Yes, Mr. [ Jain ], please go ahead. We are able to hear you.

[Foreign Language] Mr. Premji and all Board members and MD CEO, [Foreign Language]

Thank you, Mr. [ Jain ]. Can we move to the next shareholder, [ Alka Karnani ]?

Can you hear me, please?

Yes. Yes, ma'am. Kindly go ahead.

Good morning, respective Chairman, sir. I'm [ Alka Karnani ], a proud shareholder of the company and a member of Millenium Mams, Kolkata chapter. Sir, the next few quarters are expected to be challenging. What is the outlook of the company with expected recession in Europe and U.S.?

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Do we have any other shareholder ready to ask the question? Otherwise, we will answer the questions and come back, team. Mr. [ Qureshi ] or Mr. [ Ahale ]? Mr. [ Kaushik ], can we get Mr. [ Kaushik ] online? Okay.

Thank you all for your questions, and I'll pass some of them on to Thierry and Jatin as well. Mr. [ Vijay ], we've -- as we've said before, that our returns to shareholders is a combination of buyback and dividend. And so we think about it holistically as a combination of those 2 elements. Mr. [indiscernible], thank you for your comments and your words of appreciation and praise for the company. [indiscernible] which Thierry will address some questions on the geopolitics, on AI, cloud, cloud car, which we will address Mr. [ Yusof Ringwala ]. Thank you for your comments and your words of appreciation. Very much appreciated them. Mr. [ Moda ], you had a question on employment and just broad strategy, which I'll let Thierry answer as well. Mr. [ Om Prakash ] your comment on ensuring that we can be more accommodative through virtual meetings as noted. That's one of the reasons we've continued to maintain this meeting in this form. Your comment on split shares is also noted and appreciated. And then your comment on the bank -- the challenge with banking clients. And again, the disruption of AI, Thierry will take. And Mr. [ Dilip Jain ], again, thank you for your comments. Certainly, [Foreign Language]. And [ Alka ], I'll let Thierry also talk a little bit about the outlook. So Thierry.

So Rishad, thank you. So a couple of points I had noted. So the question around geopolitical impact. So of course, I mean, we mentioned it in the -- in our speeches earlier, we are obviously like you living in a world where there's geopolitical instability and challenges, whether they are energy base or related to conflicts and so on that are a reality for us and for our clients. Having said that, and I think it's an important point to keep in mind. We have no operations that are in countries and conflicts. We even have a very specific strategy for selecting countries where we want to invest -- and we are restricting our investments to those countries where there's stability. So that is, therefore, from a geopolitical standpoint, we are not directly impacted by any conflict at the moment. There was one question around acquisitions, and I think our approach continues to be the same, that is that we are looking at acquisition with through strategic lenses. We consider acquisition when they make sense from a strategic standpoint, to actually help us accelerate or enlarge, enrich our capabilities in one of our key areas whether it is from a market standpoint, from an industry standpoint or from a technology standpoint. There were several questions around AI and obviously, we fully recognize the fact that -- and you probably -- you exactly -- you're well connected with the evolution of this world, AI is actually going to become a reality for every one of us. And that's -- there was one question around what it will trigger is there the -- what can be the consequences for employees or for jobs. There was also one question around is AI going to be a good thing or a bad thing for our societies. As you can imagine, at Wipro, our human focus, our sense of purpose is completely embedded in the way we are looking at technology. For us, technology is a progress for the world whenever it drives good things, okay? And so this is very clear that the way we are approaching the technology, the way we are developing AI with our clients is with this ethical focus in mind. And that we want to drive responsible AI developments with our clients. For our employees, you must consider the following: for every one of us, whether you're the Managing Director, managing finance or you are a developer somewhere in our organization, AI is a technology that will change the way you work. And you should not be doing yourself task that can be delivered by artificial intelligence technology. Therefore, if you are well trained on artificial intelligence, you'll be able to leverage this technology to save time and be more productive. And that is what we are doing with every one of us or all our associates around the world, be trained, understand how can AI make them more productive, augment their capabilities to be more efficient, to be able to access to more quality data and drive development of our programs for our clients in a more efficient way. There were questions for cloud. So cloud questions was how many cloud projects do we have? Thousands, thousands is the answer. Today, cloud is about 1/3 of our business. We have over 100,000 of our associates around the world working on cloud projects every day. So it is thousands of projects that we are delivering every day for our clients. Questions around the cloud car. So if you look at the way the car industry has evolved, it has moved from mechanical world to technology, to data, to mobility. So what we are doing with our cloud car center of excellence and technology and assets is to work on all the technology that makes your car more intelligent, more collecting all the data, analyzing providing response, connecting with environment outside of the car. So it makes your car more intelligent is basically the work performed by this team, and we are very, very well positioned in the industry. We're working with many of the top manufacturer around the world. Maybe one point on banks. There were -- there was a question around risk of banks going bankrupt. Yes, we are working with a lot of banks. Our banking sector represent about 1/3 of our business worldwide. And the #1 market for us is in America. For sure, we have a very diligent assessment of the financial health of every client that we are working with. We at any moment in time, review our position with these clients and assess whether we have to take extra measures to minimize, mitigate or reduce the risk of working with these clients. We do not have such concern at the moment. So we continue to work with our clients. And for sure, we'll continue to apply the same diligence going forward. Jatin, back to you.

Thanks, Thierry. I will just respond to 2 specific questions. One was around how many new customers we added in FY '23. We added 435 new customers, roughly half of them came because of our large acquisition rising as it always happens. The new acquisition bring the new customers that we can nurture. The other question was around other expenses. And I just want to refer to the specific page in annual report, it's Page 243. And if you see the other expenses have gone up from INR 666 crores in FY '22 to INR 860 crores, which is pretty much in line with the company's growth of 11.5%. And slight increase in some of the fixed expenses related with certain group policies that we take in insurance, but that is to be expected given the growth that we achieved in FY '23. So back to you, Sana.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Jatin. Can we have the last set of shareholders? I request once again all the shareholders to be precise with their questions in the interest of the time. Can we have Mr. [ Bharat Raj ] from Hyderabad. Mr. [ Bharat ], if you can hear me, please ask your question.

Am I audible, sir?

Go ahead, Mr. [ Bharat ].

Yes, sir, am I audible, sir?

Yes, please.

Very good morning, sir, entire Board of Directors. I'm [ Bharat Raj ] calling from Hyderabad. First of all, I thanks my Chairman, Mr. Rishad for a wonderful performance completing $11 billion company under your leadership, sir. I'm very proud of Mr. Thierry is doing a wonderful job performance and making my company listable. Thank you, Mr. Thierry, MD and CEO of our company. And I thank my company secretary, Mr. Khan. Chairman, he has sent me the annual report in time and he is always accessible to us 27/7. Thanks for the services. Sir, there are a few questions I want to bring to your notice, Mr. Chairman. What about regarding the Europe and Ukraine war, how my company has been got impacted, sir? Please let me know. And regarding [indiscernible], sir, how we are facing the challenge? This will be impacted on Indian companies. There is no recruitment at present. So how we are facing this challenge, sir? What is your future plan? Sir, regarding to the shareholders, sir. Last year, we received INR 60 as a dividend, sir. This year, you're giving only INR 1. Please let me know any -- we expect any interim dividend. Second thing, sir, in 2019, you have given bonus. After 5 years, we are not receiving any bonus. Last year was a platinum Jubilee, we expected a bonus, sir, but we expect it now a buyback, sir. After this buyback, and we expect a bonus, please consider bonus issues, sir. Sir, I'm very proud, sir, my company total employment percentage 36% women requirement, wonderful, sir. And I'm very proud that women directors out there, thank you for making the good corporate governance. I hope you'll continue this coming days also, coming years also. CSR is wonderful, sir. Once again, sir, regarding this AI and digital. So what is the future concern? How do you want to take my company in the next 5 years? Please let me know, sir. Regarding this artificial intelligence and digital, sir, the next 5 years, please let me know, sir. Once again, Mr. Chairman, my small request is, sir, please arrange the physical AGM next year, sir. Physical AGM creates a lot of impact and interaction with the shareholders. Whenever you arrange the physical AGM, I used to come from Hyderabad and meet you personally, sir. It is really like a festival, sir. So if you connect an AGM, we'll have a very good interaction. We know what is happening, sir. So once again, we'll hope next year we'll visit physically, sir, once again all the best for the coming years, my best wishes to you. God bless you. Thank you for giving this opportunity.

Can we go to the next shareholder, please? [ Jaideep Bakshi ]. Mr. [ Bakshi ], please ask your question.

Good morning, Chairman, MD, CFO and Board of Directors. Myself [ Jaideep Bakshi ], connecting from the city of Kolkata. Thanks to our Company Secretary for giving me an opportunity to express my views and also [indiscernible] for maintaining good relation with us and also for the industrialization for the entire team. The Chairman sir, in your initial speech, you have clearly explained about our organization stance and congrats for the growth of revenue of 14.3% year-on-year basis in this global macroeconomic environment. The government of India is accelerating digital engine initiatives. Any tie-up and our position regarding this? The cybersecurity and important tool for safeguarding our digital assets. Sir, our efforts against such attacks. Kindly highlight on this. Sir, regarding the high inflation, which is going on, any impact of foreign countries slowing down in our business. The highlight on our strategy and investments to enable customers accelerate their digital transformation. Sir, as we explained, sir, as the AI is the next gen, sir, kindly highlight on the AI lab and the academic reach you may have to level up the skill, talent. So congrats for the rewards, which we have achieved mentioned in page 26 and held up to the society under our different foundation programs. Sir, apart from the large client base and winning by big deals highlight on a strength for future growth and new innovative programs through R&D. So nothing to add more. I'm supporting all the resolutions and through this video conference which helps us to get in touch with you, sir. And so with the trust and belief we have in our company, hope we will come out with much more positive results. Thank you, sir and all stay safe.

Can we have the next shareholder, Mr. [Atanu]? [ Atanu Saha ], please? Thank you.

Am I audible? Am I audible, sir?

Yes, go ahead.

Good morning. Good morning to the [indiscernible], and good morning [indiscernible]. I'm [ Atanu Saha ], a shareholder of Wipro Limited. My number [indiscernible]. Sir, my respected Chairman and Board of Directors, before that, I wish to thank to our founder of [indiscernible] Premji [indiscernible]. Respected Chairman and Board of Directors and all independent directors and my viewers and all shareholders present in this Annual General Meeting, that is a virtual meeting. [indiscernible] 12 July 2023 of our company arranging its 77th Annual General Meeting. Sir, thanks to give our company that they give chance to speak. My previous shareholders already from [indiscernible] till now [indiscernible] not necessary. So my only 2 questions. Sir, what about our sales growth? And then the second one, sir, how do you influence [ AI ]? And I already casted my vote from both side. Sir, I wish a good year ahead with good results [indiscernible] all and good health to everybody. Thank you. [indiscernible]. Thank you.

Can we go to the next shareholder, please? Ms. [ Amita ]? [ Amita Patel ]?

Yes. Good morning, sir. Respected Chairman sir, and members of the Board. I'm [ Amita Patel ], a proud shareholder of Wipro. Folio number 1301240003482453. I'm a member of Millennium Mams from Bangalore. I have a question for you, sir. Sir, you have announced a buyback, which is positive for the company. How are the promoter holding is already reaching the threshold of 75%? What was the reason behind it? And also, we would like your thoughts on how you plan to deploy the large amounts of cash generated by the company? Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Can we go to the next shareholder now? [ Naveen ]? Mr. [ Naveen ]? Okay. If we can't get, Mr. [ Naveen ]? Ms. [ Prakashini ]?

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, ma'am. Kindly go ahead.

Yes. I'm [ Prakashini Ganesha ] [indiscernible] from Mumbai. Respected Honorable Chairman, Shri Premji, [indiscernible] Board and my fellow shareholders, good morning to all of you. I received the annual report well in time with its colorful, transparent, informative, knowledgeable and contains all the informations as per the corporate governance. I thank, Mr. Khan and Rajat Shet for the same. I should not forget to thank them much again. for connecting me and giving me an opportunity to speak. Thank you once again, Mr. Khan and Mr. Rajatji. The Chairman has given -- the Chairman and MD has given a fair picture regarding the company is working in all parameters. I'm glad that the company is doing very well in the -- in all the fields when compared to the last year. Example, revenue. Revenue rose from INR 795,289 to INR 909,348 in the same way, even the profit grew better than last year. Sir, I am thankful to the Chairman for buyback and also for introducing cloud, which has been the highest revenue during the year. And I'm proud to be a shareholder of Wipro company. So there -- I'm thankful to the Board for a commencing dividend for the financial year '22/'23. At the outset, I congratulate one and all for getting various awards and recognition during the year. This shows the sincerity and hard work. I congratulate the management for doing outstanding work in the period of CSR during the year in the period of health, education, et cetera, et cetera. So I have a few questions. My first question is I know that as on date, there are 257,311 dedicated employees, please let me know how many are women and what is the percentage? My next question is, what is the future of the company? My next question is, how are we planning to increase revenue in the future? Next question is, how do we adopt digital technology to increase the productivity? How much amount was spent on CSR during the year? So last but not the least, I request the Chairman personally and as my previous predecessors have also asked to please continue with VC meeting in future so that people like me can speak and also around the world will have an opportunity to express their views and thoughts. I wish the company good luck for a bright future and pray God that the profit of the company shall reach the peak in due course. So I strongly and wholeheartedly support all the resolutions put forth in today's meeting. Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much, ma'am. Thank you. And thank you for all questions that are repeat. So in the interest of time, I will -- we will not reiterate the answers we've already stated. Mr. [ Bharat ], thank you for your comments. It's noted. Your comment on dividend is noted, your comment on bonuses noted. Your appreciation for our diversity and for our CSR efforts is noted. And we've also taken into consideration your request for a physical AGM. Mr. [ Bakshi ]. We work with the -- with government and we work on projects selectively. We have a business that's focused on that, but we are quite selective on where we get involved, where we believe we can have impact. We talked about our cybersecurity business earlier, which continues to be one of our differentiating offerings and solutions where we've scaled and grown tremendously over the last several years. We've made some acquisitions. It's among our highest and most profitable businesses. And so that continues to remain an area of focus. We talked about the AI work we're doing. We talked about the strategy of the company in Thierry's opening comments, and we talked about the economic environment and the impact of inflation in the war and the uncertainty more broadly as well. So we won't repeat those in the interest of time. Again, appreciate the recognition of the buyback. On the cash generated, we've stated this for years that we have a dual combination. We keep cash to invest in the organization, both organically and inorganically and we continue to maintain our standard of returning cash to shareholders on a consistent basis. So that is the delicate balance that we strike with our cash, and we continue to maintain that as we go forward. Ms. [ Prakashini ], 36.4% of our employees are women a lot of your questions on the future of the company and on digital technologies, we've answered about INR 215 crores we spent last year on CSR -- and again, your comment on -- having the AGM through VC is noted. I will request Thierry to quickly just touch on the one question that came up on Europe, perhaps in Ukraine.

Europe and Ukraine, specifically to Ukraine. We have no operations in Ukraine, nor in Ukraine -- neither in Ukraine nor in Russia. We have no employees or contractors working in this country. So we are not involved whatsoever, impacted, if you like, from this tragedy.

Super. Great. So thank you all for participating and sharing your comments and appreciation as well as your questions. All the items of the business is for the notice of the 77th Annual General Meeting have been taken up. I now declare the proceedings of this Annual General Meeting as completed. As mentioned earlier in my comments, the Insta-Poll, e-voting facility will continue to be available for 30 minutes after this meeting. And again, on behalf of the Board of Directors and the management of Wipro, I convey our and my sincere thanks to all members for attending and participating in this meeting, and I look forward to seeing all of you next year. Thank you again for your partnership. Thank you.