Earlier this week, amid the COVID 19 pandemic, a claim started doing rounds on social media that Azim Premji, the chairman of tech company Wipro, has again given a large amount to the charity. It is claimed that he has given 50 thousand crores in charity for the corona epidemic. NDTV journalist Meenakshi Joshi tweeted,  “Azim Premji donates 50000 crores. He is really a man of golden heart. #COVID”.

Famous Bollywood director, Farah Khan also made a similar claim while sharing a news report. 

Journalist Faye DSouza, former Congress member Salman Nizami, Teamwork MD Sanjay K Roy, journalist Shivam Vij, also tweeted about Premji’s philanthropic gesture in this of coronavirus pandemic when many of celebrities are making big donations. Not only journalists but media houses including HW English, Dainik Jagran’s Jagran Josh, Indian Express’s Jansatta, Newsd, and Sentinel Assam also wrote articles on this charity. 

The truth behind the claim 

In our investigation, we found out that Azim Premji indeed made this donation of Rs 50,000 Crores but in 2019 and the donation is not related to Coronavirus crisis. According to an NDTV article published on 15 March 2019, “The billionaire chairperson of Wipro Limited has just added to the billions of dollars worth he has already donated by committing 34 percent of shares in his company – worth 7.5 billion dollars or 52,750 crores.” 

However, as per an announcement on April 1, by Chairman of Wipro, Rishad Premji, "Azim Premji Foundation and Wipro Ltd together contributed a sum of Rs 1,125 crore tackle the coronavirus crisis." 

The foundation committed Rs 1125 Crore towards tackling the unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis arising from the COVID19 pandemic outbreak.

Of the Rs 1,125 crore, Wipro Ltd's commitment is Rs 100 crore, Wipro Enterprises Ltd's is Rs 25 crore and that of the Azim Premji Foundation is Rs 1,000 crore. These resources will help enable the dedicated medical and service fraternity in the frontline of the battle against the pandemic and in mitigating its wide-ranging human impact, particularly on the most disadvantaged of our society, Wipro and the foundation said in a joint release.

In conclusion, Azim Premji's Rs 50,000 crore donation was made in 2019 and, hence, is not related to Coronavirus pandemic. However, on April 1, Azim Premji foundation made an announcement of committing Rs 1125 crores towards coronavirus crisis.