The journey of Wipro began in 1945, when the Western India Vegetable
Products Limited was incorporated in Maharastra state, India.
The vegetable products factory gradually by 1970s expanded into
a consumer products group, hydraulic cylinders and then entered
the InfoTech area.
In early 80’s when India was on the threshold of an IT
boom, Wipro entered the Infotech area and tasted early success
in its R & D. In 1980, an energetic, committed team of professional
R & D and marketing managers was brought together and in
a small laboratory at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Bangalore, the team developed the first Indian mini computer
based on Intel 8086 chip.
Wipro continued it successful journey when it tied up with GE
Medical Systems to set up a Joint Venture 1992. In 1997, Wipro
launched Six Sigma, the internal quality rejuvenation process
to ensure that its quality standards are world class. In 2000,
Wipro’s ADS was listed on the New York Stock Exchange
as WIT, and its equity shares listed in India on the Stock exchange
- Mumbai, and the National Stock Exchange.
In December 2001, Wipro Limited became the first PCMM Level
5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified IT Services Company globally.
Wipro’s voyage maintains its consistency with the recent
acquisitions like GE Medical Systems IT, Spectramind e Services,
R & D services of Ericsson in India and Nervewire. With
many significant achievements Wipro continued to spread its
wings to place like US, UK, Asia Pacific and Middle East markets.
| Some
of the milestones in the journey of Wipro |
| 1945 |
Incorporation
as Western India Vegetable Products Limited |
| 1947 |
Establishment
of an oil mill at Amalner, Maharashtra, India |
| 1960 |
Manufacture of
laundry soap 787 at Amalner |
| 1970 |
Manufacture of
Bakery Shortening Vanaspati at Amalner |
| 1975 |
Diversification
into engineering and manufacture of hydraulic cylinders
as WINTROL (now called Wipro Fluid Power) division
in Bangalore. |
| 1977 |
Name of the Company
changed to Wipro Products Limited |
| 1980 |
Diversification
into Information Technology under Information Technology
Division |
| 1981 |
Launched India's
first mini computer. |
| 1981 |
Manufacture and
marketing of flexi - pack of hydrogenated cooking
oil for the first time in India |
| 1982 |
Name of the Company
changed to Wipro Limited |
| 1983 |
Formation of
Wipro Information Technology Limited and Wipro Systems
Limited. |
| 1984 |
Production of
toilet soaps with a capacity of 4000 tonnes per
year. |
| 1986 |
Launch of Santoor
brand toilet soap. |
| 1987 |
Manufacture of
fatty acid and glycerin at Amalner |
| 1988 |
New Business
Unit, Wipro BioMed started to market and service
bio-analytical and diagnostic instruments. |
| 1990 |
Incorporation
of Wipro GE Medical Systems, a joint venture with
GE Medical Systems. |
| 1991 |
Diversification
into Lighting and launch of Baby Care products |
| 1995 |
Wipro Infotech
and Wipro Systems merged with Wipro Limited |
| 1996 |
Registered Office
of Wipro shifted from Mumbai to Bangalore |
| 1997 |
Six Sigma Quality
journey begins |
| 1998 |
Wipro launches
its repositioned Corporate Identity (Rainbow Flower
and Applying Thought) and rearticulates its externally
reoriented values |
| 1998 |
Wipro branded
computers and systems launched |
| 1998 |
Achieved SEI-CMM
Level 5, highest global software quality ranking
in all Software Services offered by Wipro |
| 1999 |
Wipro becomes
# 1 in market capitalization in the country |
| 2000 |
Wipro listed
on New York Stock Exchange |
| 2001 |
Becomes the first
company to be assessed at PCMM Level 5 |
| 2002 |
Acquisition of
GEMSIT, Spectramind and the R & D services of
Ericsson in India |
| 2003 |
Acquisition of
Nervewire |
|
Original Wipro concepts that had major
impact on the industry
Offshore
Development Center (ODC)
Wipro was the first company to innovate the concept of Offshore
Development Centers, which offered multiple benefits to the
customers. These centers are created in India with dedicated
space, people and network infrastructure for clients in different
parts of the world. The ODC model enabled us to undertake projects
in India instead of sending the engineers to the clients’
site. It helped to reduce the costs for the client, thereby
helping us to get a large number of new clients. All others
in the industry have since adopted this model.
Wipro
Academy For Software Excellence (WASE) program
Wipro was the first company to get BSc graduates to work on
live projects and get trained over the weekends. Wipro ties
up with BITS Pilani so that WASE students could receive a post
graduation degree at the end of 4 years. This model helped us
to reduce costs for the client and service their need for legacy
systems. It also helped in increasing the talent pool.
Channel And Franchisee Operations
In 1987, when competition took the route of direct selling,
Wipro was the first Company to introduce channel partners for
selling computers and printers in India. This model helped us
to reach the customers in remote area. We extended this model
for sales support through franchisees, a mode; our competitors
subsequently followed.
Flexi
Packs For Vanspati
Wipro was the first company in India to package vanspati
in flexible packets creating concept of refill packs, thus revolutionizing
this vanaspati packaging concept. This resulted in saving of
packaging material and reducing the cost of vanaspati for the
customer.
Wipro leadership position
#1 Networking Integrator. Voice &
Data, May 2000. Based on networking sales revenue
#1 PC Brand recall in household survey. Dataquest,
June 2000
#1 IT company in India. Dataquest,
July 2000. Ranked on revenue
#1 in user opinion poll and power survey. Computer
World, September 2000. Ranked on image, credibility and
financial robustness
#1 Home And Office Pc Brand recalled in User’s Choice
Survey. PC Quest, September
2002
#3 Most admired company. Economic
Times- ORG Marg, January 2000
#2 Software exporter from India. Dataquest,
June 2000 |
