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"...Many other industries, including traditional ones like pharma and auto components have begun to feel that if IT can do it then so can they..."

Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro

AZIM PREMJI is one of India's best-known and most successful business leaders. At age 21, he took the reins of a $2 million hydrogenated cooking fat company. Today, that company is USD$3.5 billion Wipro, which focuses on information technology, business process outsourcing and research & development services. The Azim Premji Foundation, funded entirely by Premji, reflects his passion for delivering quality education for every child as a means of improving society.

Premji offered his perspectives on the FORTUNE Global Forum "Indian Leaders Series" questions.

Q&A

FGF:  How does the job you're doing impact the future of India?

Premji:  The first impact is with respect to ambition, which, at least in part, has been pushed to new levels by the success of the Indian IT industry. Many other industries, including traditional ones like pharma and auto-components, have begun to feel that if IT can do it then so can they. The global dream seems more plausible now than ever before.

The second is with respect to the economic contribution. In 2006-2007, according to the industry body NASSCOM, IT contributed 5.2% to the national GDP.

The third is with respect to the social impact both in the areas of employment and education. Wipro, apart from being one of the top three Indian software exporters is one of the largest employers in the private sector today with more than 75,000 people employed in India and across the globe. Our businesses are growing rapidly, fueling the demand for skilled resources in India. In Education, we are investing through the initiatives of the Azim Premji Foundation; Wipro Cares and Wipro Applying Thought in Schools. Through the Azim Premji Foundation, we work primarily with rural schools towards the goal of Universalizing Primary Education. In Wipro Applying Thought in Schools, we are working with a few selected schools to replace learning by rote with more creative approaches to learning.

FGF:  How will India strike a balance between maintaining its unique culture and competing in a global economy?

Premji:  The culture of our country is such an integral part of who we are. The core will remain even as we evolve with changing times. Today, there is far more knowledge and appreciation of Indian culture than there was earlier. There is a growing importance in the West given to meditation, Indian music, yoga, dance and art.

Indian society as a whole, I think is more respectful of age and family is an integral part of our lives. India is also a melting pot of many religions, races and cultures, so, we bring certain strengths of more humane tolerance. Anyone who studies our people and culture closely enough will understand how today we are constantly trying to strike a balance between our values, culture and the growing global influences in our lives. It is not an either-or situation, in fact just the opposite. I think that our culture inherently gives us a complexity arbitrage. We handle ambiguity very naturally. We are also home with different languages since every Indian knows at least three languages. This is an enormous leverage while competing in a global economy.

Also, due to our educational system and the pervasiveness of Hollywood, many educated Indians are aware of American or European cultures, and are able to blend this with their Indian roots. Lots more Indians travel overseas and that helps them to imbibe some of the practices.

FGF:  Poverty in India is a reality. How do you foresee this challenge being dealt with during the next decade?

Premji:  Entrepreneurship and the process of wealth creation are fundamental to eradicating poverty. You need to create wealth to distribute it. Companies like Wipro are helping in the process of wealth creation - every job we create, in turn creates employment for five more people in the ecosystem and this filters down the levels. Wealth creation in turn feeds consumerism that leads to more houses, cars, the need for more products and services and in turn more and better employment. We are able to see the results of the past decade of economic growth that IT has created in India. We can also see its effects in improving the living standards of people in even remote villages, who have directly or indirectly benefited by this growth.

The next decade will be crucial as more educated people will join the mainstream economy and India will have more avenues to propel economic growth beyond IT. In fact, the US has recently reclassified India as a "transforming economy" from being a "developing economy".

FGF:  In some cases, government and private enterprise must work together to realize India's economic goals. What examples can you site when this has been successful?

Premji:  At Wipro and the Azim Premji Foundation we are working with the Education system and its stakeholders in India. Our emphasis is on improving the Quality of Education. The vision of the Foundation is to "Significantly contribute to achieving quality universal education to facilitate a just, equitable and humane society". Our aim is to make a tangible impact on identified social issues by working in active partnership with the Government and other related sections of the society.

We have a three-pronged strategy at the Foundation namely, Intervention by means of engaging with schools and other bodies to understand and impact elementary level systemic change, Network to build an ecosystem of those who desire change to work together and Advocacy to provide a radical stimulus to influence the education system.

Our Foundation today touches over 2.6 million students and 45,000 teachers in over 16,000 schools across India and slowly, but surely, is making an impact on the system.

Through our programs, not only are we educating people better, but I think we are contributing indirectly, to family planning: smaller families, and in some ways a better environment for family healthcare because, in education, we have to work with communities. We have to work with the father and the mother in the community, to explain to them why they should keep their child in school, why they should not put the child in domestic labor, why they should not put the child in farm labor to supplement the father's requirements of farm labor in hard times.

FGF:  What is the biggest change you've observed in India since the 1994 reforms began?

Premji:  One of the biggest changes the reforms have brought for India is a global outlook and a significant level of self confidence in our ability to compete in the global arena. In the past ten years, Indian companies have not only emerged as a force to reckon with in areas like IT outsourcing and automotive exports, but are emerging as global organizations in their own right, from acquiring global companies and brands to pioneering innovations and best practices that are making them potential world leaders in several industries.

FGF:  What advice do you have for the CEO of a foreign company considering doing business in India?

Premji:  India is very unique - we are one nation, but we officially speak over 18 languages and culturally every state in India is very diverse. Looking at India as a single marketplace is like looking at Europe in a similar light. I would also say, do not look at India only as a market but also as a storehouse of talent and resources. Take time to understand the country and blend into it. What works in some other emerging markets may not work here. For doing business in India, you have to make new templates.