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 M. Satwalekar, Mr. Patrick Dupuis. To my left is Mr. Thierry Delaporte, Mr. Jatin Dalal, Ms. Tulsi Naidu, Ms. Päivi Rekonen, and Mr. Sanaullah Khan. Also present today are our statutory 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. Sanaullah Khan, to read the arrangements made for the members at this 77th annual general meeting. Sana, over to you.
Hi. 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 per 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 5th, 2023, during the period commencing from 9:00 A.M. IST on Saturday, July 8th, 2023, till 5:00 P.M. IST on Tuesday, July 11th, 2023. Remote e-voting has been blocked on July 11th, 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 board of directors has appointed Mr. V. Sreedharan, partner 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's listing regulations. 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. Members seeking to inspect such documents can send an email to corp, C-O-R-P, hyphen secretarial at wipro dot com. 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 two consecutive years of double-digit growth since we began our journey of change in 2020. In April 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 am glad that we've 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 2023 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, 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, added new capabilities and grew our talent to support our future growth. Thierry will expand more on this in his remarks, 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 a third 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. Lastly, from the beginning of this quarter, we have reorganized ourselves into four 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 we have 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. For the last two years now, Wipro's AI generative capability and center of excellence have conducted research with leading academic institutions, built accelerators and frameworks, and developed 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 and quality in areas such as 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. You know, as with every emerging technology, we are aware that AI will impact our work. It will impact us personally and our social life significantly. 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 moral center and sense of purpose, manifested in the soul 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 four 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. 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+ 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 that gender diversity at a senior leadership level has seen a threefold increase and is now at 17%. Enrich, our sponsorship program for high-potential women leaders, and Begin 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. 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 own facilities now use renewable energy. Our annual business travel in financial year 2023 was down to 305 million km against a goal of 595 million km. 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, healthcare, 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 six 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 and 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. 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 three 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 their 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 set 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 five key areas. If you remember, accelerating our revenue growth, improving our margins, and bringing in efficiencies across the organization, a deep portfolio rotations to double down on business offerings and proposition that actually our clients need. Reskilling 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. Rishad said it, we delivered two 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 remark. Fiscal year 2023 saw robust order bookings through the year. Bookings or deals signed in total contract value terms grew 28% year-on-year, which allowed us to finish the year with two consecutive quarters of total bookings of over $4.1 billion. We closed fiscal year 2023 with 19 $100 million accounts, compared to 11 in fiscal year 2021. 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 booking rose from 25% in fiscal year 2020 to 44% in fiscal year 2023. This is remarkable because there has been a significant slowdown in several sectors over the last year. You all know that. Most of our clients are holding back on big spends. The results of fiscal year 2023 reflect the trust we have built with our clients, who are choosing to do business with us, even when they are reducing their discretionary spends in an uncertain market. It is also a corroboration that our bold growth strategy was right, and that we're moving in the right direction. It also tells us that our single-minded focus on value creation for our clients, on delivery excellence and innovation, is the right strategy.
Finally, it shows that the strategic investments we made, whether in acquisition, new capabilities or talent, they were the right ones that our client need and appreciate. This past year, we switched up our operating model to a 4x4 structure, four strategic market units and four 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 organizational model, we are starting to see the benefits. When we meet next year, I know that I will be able to share with you how it has further improved our market position. Organizing around our strategy 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 significantly improved place than 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. Sure, the backdrop today is a bit uncertain. We know that. We are all watching closely the economic headwinds, the geopolitical conflicts, 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, 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 two years, because cloud migration, cloud-based business models, along with robust security measures, have become pretty much the standard. Wipro's FullStride Cloud Services have 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. 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 had started investing in 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 ai 360, our new AI-first innovation ecosystem. ai 360 builds on Wipro's 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. We are committing to invest $1 billion to further advance our AI capabilities over the next three years. The billion-dollar investment will help accelerate Wipro's data and analytics capabilities and foundation, R&D platforms, enhance 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 and Credential Exchange, or DICE ID platform, 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 grows exponentially over the coming years. Another investment area for us is talent. We have continued to invest into people. Over the past year, we've trained over 50,000 employees in demand-driven skill. Nextgen associates, formerly called freshers, continue to be a critical part of our talent strategy. The renaming of this group of colleagues. You should see it as a reflection of their value to our business and of our commitment to their success.
We hired over 22,000 Nextgen associates in the fiscal year 2023, the highest ever in our industry, in our history. Our talent transformations 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 their 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 expect from us. As you all well 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, believed 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 companies that gives back two-third of its earnings to the communities, our shared sense of purpose is one of the main drivers of our success. During fiscal year 2023, 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 steadfast on our environmental, workplace, and social stewardship as well. This is often called ESG, in short, right?
On our net zero goal during FY 2023, we increased our renewable energy share from 48% to nearly 60% during the year. We have a clear roadmap and a plan for our interim goals all the way till 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 boldest 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. 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. 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 31st, 2023, and the board's and the auditors' reports, have been sent by electronic mode to those members whose email 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 31st, 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 31st, 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 2022-2023. 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 InstaPoll 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 InstaPoll facility will remain active up to 30 minutes after this meeting. We will commence the Q&A session in a few seconds. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Abhigna Kashyap.
Bushra Sahibzada.
Mandira Shah.
I'm Ziyaad Khaja.
My name is Julian Brain, pronouns he/him. I'm a director within the AWS Partnership, which is part of the Chief Growth Office team.
I lead corporate brand for Wipro, and that involves evangelizing, curating experiences, and of course, governing the brand across the world.
I am a general manager at Wipro Engineering Edge. I love solving puzzles, and it is a little like, solving a puzzle, building solutions for the customer. My team is also very enthusiastic about new technologies and how to apply that for real-world problems.
My role is the head of operations for the Nordics at Wipro. Having the background from the Nordics and also being a Turkish Kurd, it helps me as a person, and that benefits my work today.
I was recruited by Wipro on campus when I was finishing my MBA. I started in a new program, a rotation program, with the company for a year and a half, and then moved to Consulting. From Consulting within a couple practices and up to my current role as a program director.
I've been with Wipro for seven years now, and I get a front seat view of Wipro's transformation over the years. Sometimes also get the opportunity to influence and articulate how Wipro is creating value and realizing ambitions for our customers.
I am a project manager here at Wipro. Within project management, you have to have the skills of managing the project but also the team, and here we have the whole package.
Wipro is global. We have people from everywhere, every type of religion, every type of background, every type of culture.
I had the opportunity to work with people spread throughout the world, and that is a very exciting thing for me.
I think the most unique fact about Wipro is that we are the literal definition of technology for good.
Wipro means educate. Azim Premji and the legacy that he has in terms of the work he does for the people and the Foundation does for the people, it's very inspiring and, like, even aspirational.
I also have a role in I&D, inclusion and diversity, where I'm a global LGBTQ+ Pride Circle lead. Little by little, we're bringing more visibility into the community. We're building those communities both locally and globally, and it feels great to see the progress and the different topics we talk about.
If I were to describe Wipro in one word, I would use the word resilient.
Diversity. Diversity of thought, diversity of backgrounds, diversity of countries.
For me, Wipro is people.
Values. We were one of the first companies to articulate our values several decades ago.
I am Wipro.
You're live. Welcome back. I now request Sanaullah Khan, our company secretary, to share a few guidelines for the Q&A session. Sana, over to you.
Thank 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. The Q&A session will be anchored by me. I will call the pre-registered shareholders who are speakers to ask their queries and clarifications one by one. I will invite the speakers in the batches of five. We will answer those five questions before moving on to the next batch of five speakers. The shareholders are requested to unmute their microphone before speaking and also enable their webcam if they wish to appear on the video. Shareholders are requested to mention their name, folio number, and location. It is not mandatory if you don't remember the folio number, you can simply mention your name and ask your question.
Members are requested to restrict their questions to two minutes. We have a number of shareholders today, in order to ensure that all speaker shareholders get a fair amount of time, kindly restrict your questions to two minutes. In the interest of time, I request the members to not repeat the questions raised by the previous shareholders. It may be noted that the company reserves the right to limit the number of shareholders asking questions, depending upon the availability of time for this annual general meeting. Can we now have the first set of five shareholders. To ask the question is Mr. Sadananda Shastri. I request Mr. Shastri to unmute his microphone and enable his webcam and ask the question to the board.
Hello? Hello. Am I on? Good morning. I'm Sadananda Shastri from Bangalore. My number... Thanks. In the interest... It is made known. You have brought... Very well. Bye.
Actually, none other than that I am asking. I may take a minute more. Sir, report page number nine, it is said that the company has 9,000 plus cyber security system. Why can't the company find out devices to eradicate cyber crimes, which are increasing nowadays? Page number 17. Chairman, Sir, in your letter to shareholders, you have given clear picture of the company. However, your specimen signature was not needed. Please. Miscreants may for personal gain. Few years back, ultimately, I hope you have understood the pulse of my statement and take it in good... 56% foreign nationals, mere 44% are Indians. Considering the majority, do you have any proposal to convert company? Page number 66. Actually, page number 24, Sir. Financial performance, net income to turnover, PBIT, profit before tax and attributable profit slipped down this year, 2022-2023.
What is the reason? Page number 66. Employee wellbeing. Page six to 71, you have... Very much concerned. Despite increase in revenue. Value reduced to the , are suffering loss. Nurse it. Page number 21, balance sheet. In trade receivables, disputed and aged more than three years, amounting to INR, amounting to INR 4,654 million, still continuing. It is on the higher side, which may go bad also. How do you monitor, and what steps you are taking for realization? Equities. Equities are mounting high, even it goes beyond 70 times of capital. This is right. Hello? Am I audible?
Yes, you can go ahead, Mr. Shastri.
You have also talked about bonus shares in page 174. 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 dream of shareholders, with this borrowings reduces, finance costs come down. Lastly, in P&L account, the note 28, 30, other expenses does not match. It should be 25, where details of expenses by nature is given. Nowhere amount of INR 8,605 million matches with the details. Breakups not given properly. Clubbing of direct expenses with other expenses item would be improper. Accuracy defeated here. Figures are not tallying each other. Some error is predicted. Please clarify it, sir. Thank you very much. See you in next year, cafeteria. Thank you very much.
Thanks.
Can we have the next speaker, please? Mr. Santosh Kumar Saraf. 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? Yeah. Good morning.
Hello.
Hello, good morning, respected Chairman, Board of Directors, fellow shareholders.
Mr. Gupta, if you can just reduce your volume from your side, we'll be able to hear you better. It's very loud, please.
Okay, sir.
Thank you.
Okay. Sir, first of all, I pay my respect to our Founder Chairman, Azim Premji. I bow to him. Our respected chairman, board of directors, fellow shareholders. My name is Manoj Kumar Gupta. I'm a deputy shareholder of Wipro. I've joined this meeting from Calcutta, my residence. I thanks to our MD for his nice presentation, thanks to our chairman for his inspiring speech to the shareholders. Sir, I congratulate you for your massive success of buyback. Sir, what's your future plan for next three years, and what's your plan for Middle East and the U.S.? Sir, what impact will come on our company direct impact of the war, Russia-Ukraine war, or impact of inflation?
Sir, you are doing a lot of work for the society, community, and the pupils of the country under the Wipro Foundation and the Azim Premji Foundation. You should try to consider something for this region also, for Calcutta also, sir, the City of Joy. I've got a chance in my life to meet our beloved Founder Chairman Azim Premji, in a I-IIA conference in Calcutta. I request you to consider something, and I'm very happy to see that Deepak M. Satwalekar in our board. What's your view on the solar energy, to use the solar energy in our offices and our premises to save the energy cost? Once again, I request you to all the AGM to visit that kindly shareholder can attend the meeting. Please convey our best wishes to our founder, Azim Premji.
I pray to God for his healthy and prosperous safe long life. Sir, we hope that you will do something for Calcutta also, under your CSR project, to help the pupils in the medical or health education. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Can we now have the next shareholder, Prakashini Shenoy? Prakashini Shenoy, if you're online, can you please ask your question? Prakashini Shenoy? Are you able to hear me, Prakashini? If Prakashini is not online, can we have Naveen Bothra, the next shareholder, to ask his 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, Mr. Bothra. We can't hear you, Mr. Bothra. We still can't hear you.
You want to come back, Sana, maybe?
Yeah.
I think the gentleman on the screen, I think, was able to unmute earlier.
Yeah. Mr. Saraf, are you able to hear me?
Yeah. Yes, sir. Yeah, I can speak.
Okay. Please go ahead and ask your question, Mr. Saraf. Thank you.
Respected Chairman, board member, and my fellow shareholder, my name is Santosh Kumar Saraf. Sir, namaskar. A special namaskar to my brother, Azim Premji, sir. Sir, thank you, your management and your employees, sir, are very good results, sir. Also, thanks to your management and your team, sir, for buyback of the share through tender route, sir. It is benefit to us, sir. We get nice return. I, we advise you, instead of bonus, always try to buy back share so we get direct benefit, sir. I also thank to our secretary and his team members for their cordial relation, sir. Sir, I already sent some question at the time of register, but in your speech, you give very good description of detail, sir, regarding artificial intelligence, sir.
I want to know, the future in artificial intelligence, in regard, what is the company plan for the future, sir? What new technology will introduce my company to add new clientage, client in our company growth, sir? Sir, also, I want to say the BC meeting is very good, sir. Very, many people from America and outside city joined, sir. In the future, continuous with this, sir. Once again, I wish for all our person, those are present in today meeting, along with my employees, those are not present in today's meeting, for good health for coming year, sir. Thank you, sir, for giving me the opportunity. Namaskar, once again, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Saraf.
Rishad, we will go with the answering of the questions so far.
Okay.
So that-
Do you want to see if Mr. Naveen Bothra is unmuted now, or you want to just take him quickly if he is?
Yeah. Mr. Bothra, are you able to hear me? Mr. Bothra, can you ask your question? Mr. Bothra, are you able to hear me? No, Jatin, I think no problem. Rishad, maybe-
Yeah.
answer the questions and then we'll back for the next.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Shastri, Mr. Gupta, Mr. Saraf, for your questions. One, you know, the founder appreciates all the kind comments you've said. I'll try and answer as many questions and hand over the ones I can't to Thierry and to Jatin. Your comment on cybersecurity is noted. You know, as you would 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 three years, and it is continuing to show great results. 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.
You know, your comment on the director mix being 44% foreign directors and 56%. The reality is that, you know, 93% of our business comes from overseas, we want a board that represents our businesses, wants a board that represents where our clients are based, where we serve, and where many of our employees are based. We think that having a very strong, diverse board is very advantageous to us, 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 2022-2023 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 2022, 2023. We've also invested in some of M&As. As you will appreciate, we've had a substantive bounce back from where our margins were in Q1 at 15%-15.1% to 16.3% in Q4. Our focus remains deeply on also driving significant operational efficiency as we move forward. 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 crore. Our commitment to distribute 45%-50% of net income on an average of three 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 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 your 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. 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, 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. 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%. 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. It's very, very much front and center for us. I'll hand it over to Thierry to talk a little bit about AI, because 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.
Thierry, do you want to say a few things on AI?
Yeah, absolutely. Good morning. The, you know, as you mentioned, we are dealing with technology every day, and, you know, technology is an area where there's constant evolution. What we observe with AI, and in particular, you know, with, you know, the latest progression of the generative AI, is the way artificial intelligence will transform or is transforming most of the businesses around the world, across industries. You know, the ability of artificial intelligence is empowering people and driving productivity up. Therefore, as an organization, how do we leverage this technology to be more efficient, more productive? For doing so, you know, it requires people to be trained.
It requires people to understand, you know, all the different aspects of applications of AI and GenAI, you know, for, you know, different industries. It could be, you know, leveraging GenAI to.
... drive conversational, you know, to have conversational assistance. You can leverage, you know, generative AI, as you know, to write codes, right? This is transforming the life of software engineers or the way we are working on R&D projects. This is an exciting journey. The wonderful news, sir, 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 three years across AI and data, and you will see us more, you know, 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. Shastri's questions first. Sir, thank you very much for taking time and going through our balance sheet in the depth in which you have gone through. Let me respond to your first question on page 304, note 28. As you have noticed, the staff recruitment expenses have been reclassified from previous years, from miscellaneous expenses to legal and professional charges, because we felt that is the right place to account for it. Accordingly, we have reclassified FY 2022 numbers as well, and that's the clarification to your question. The second question on the overdue debts. Sir, you very well know we are a large company.
Our revenues for fiscal 2023 were INR 90,000 crores. In that proportion, this overdue or disputed debtors are 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. 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 2022, which has come down to INR 465 crores in FY 2023. We are continuing to put our efforts to collect this money so that it continues to reduce, and it continues to improve its trajectory.
This is the, this is the response to your second question. 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 2023. I can share that in some of the states, like Karnataka, we are upwards of 80% in renewable energy consumption, and large component of that is coming through solar. We are making right progress in line with our overall ESG framework to continue to use more and more renewable source of energy.
Thanks. Thanks, sir. Can we move to the next set?
Yeah, thank you. Can we now move to the next set of shareholders? The first to go is V. Ravichandran, 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? Mr. Ravichandran, are you able to hear me?
Hello.
Yeah, Mr. Ravichandran.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
Good morning, dear Chairman, and the other board members, and also the fellow shareholders who are attending the meeting. I have seven points. I'm a shareholder for the last 12 years, 13 years, to be precise. I'm a shareholder since 2010. Whatever the analyst may be saying or the market may be viewing, I've seen good returns from the investments with Wipro. I have no problems, I have no complaints on my investments in Wipro. Maybe the timing is was right as far as I am concerned. I have seven 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 Mint.
It's a 1-page report on Wipro, wherein it was mentioned that the MD and CEO, who is from France, was supposed to relocate to USA within six months. Even after three years, I understand he has not relocated, as per the report. 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 two is, the Indian CEO salary is 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 you may like to clarify. Point number three is, you are totally dependent on services.
You are 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 Atmanirbhar. It has introduced PLI and lots of other incentives for manufacturing. Manufacturing products may give some kind of cushion if there is volatility in the services sector. This is more as a suggestion. Point number four is on the revenue. The incremental revenue is about INR 8,179 crores. The increase in employee cost, including the subcontracting charges, is about INR 6,723 crores.
If you compare the, you know, corresponding contribution of the incremental cost, employee cost on 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 one-time impact, or does it have any, is it because of lower productivity? This also you may like to clarify. Point number five is all IT companies are cash rich, and you have borrowed INR 5,175 crores. You can explain the reasons for the borrowing. 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 number six 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 one-time, or it's a permanent loss? This also you may like to clarify. My last point is trade payables. 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 this. See, I find some amount as due for more than three 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. This also you may like to clarify.
We'll do that. Thank you.
Okay, thank you, and all the best.
Thank you very much.
Can we move to the next shareholder, Shrenik Mehta? Mr. Mehta, please ask your question, sir.
Hello, am I audible, sir?
Yes. Yes, please. Go ahead, sir.
Our founder, Chairman Azim Premji, sir, our Executive Chairman Rishad Premji, other Board of Directors, CEO Thierry Delaporte, Company Secretary Sanaullah Khan, and other members. Myself, Shrenik Mehta. By profession, I'm a retired advocate, age wise, 70. I'm port city of Jamnagar, Gujarat. My folio number is IN300978100280. That is my short introduction. My profession, I'm a stock broker on a NSE, National Stock Exchange. First of all, I would like to thank all the board members and the secretariat team for giving me an opportunity to speak today. First of all, I would like to congratulate for the fourth buyback in last about five to six years. Two times our shareholding was accepted about 100%. This time it is accepted 77%, and one time it was accepted 60%.
That's a good policy of returning cash or profit to the shareholder, first of all. Second one, this is Rishad bai, I would like to draw your attention. In January 2023, you had declared dividends of INR 1 per share, which has got no value in today. It will to cut the TDS from our HUF account, and it creates a lot of work on the part of the company. We have to deposit with the income tax department. We have to show it in our income tax return, and we have to pay it back. It is our, as a minority shareholder, it is my humble request, if you want to declare dividend, declare of a big amount. Otherwise, you opt for a buyback through tender. That is a good way.
In future, it is my humble suggestion, don't declare dividend of INR 1 or 2. Regarding, sir, AGM. The asking AGM is around 9:30 A.M. in the morning. I'm a market participant, so if I'm attending our AGM, same way, I'm losing my trading on National Stock Exchange. My humble request is that I requested Infosys and TCS to hold AGM after share market hours, and both TCS and Infosys both have accepted my request, and now we are conducting meeting after share market hours is over. Good way, sir, if any announcement on the, which is on the corporate action or which is market sensitive, it should be declared after market hours. That is your about artificial intelligence, Mr. Thierry Delaporte, has spoken about.
Today morning I was listening to CNN News Hour, there was a breaking news that about 50,000 of our workers will be trained for artificial intelligence. Please, if you throw some more light, how it will benefit our company and pro-profitability. Now I'm addressing to our CEO, Thierry Delaporte. Thierry Delaporte, what I'm telling is without prejudice and with a bona fide intention. When you joined company, Indian stock market was hoping very too good from you. Share price of Wipro went up to 735 INR. I mean, before for six months, it went down to 350 INR, and today's market price is 392 INR. In past, you might have done very good work where you might be working before Wipro.
Indian share market was hoping too much from you. I'm sorry to tell you, sir, you have not done much for Wipro as per your past record. Please, look into this matter, this was with bona fide intention and no negative intention.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mehta.
You're welcome.
go to the next shareholder, please. Thank you, Mr. Shrenik Mehta. Can we go to the next shareholder, Ashit Kumar Pathak?
Am I audible, sir?
Yes.
Am I audible?
Yes, you are, Mr. Pathak.
Good morning, respected founder, chairman, MD and CEO, and Board of Directors. My name is Ashit Kumar Pathak, joining from Kolkata. The remarkable representations from our respected chairman and MD, I have noted the several valuable points. Sir, my small views which I'd like to share. Present situation as on financial year 24, any impact in global operation due to higher inflation, mostly in USA, and geopolitical turbulence and global slow economy, if possible, throw some highlights. After a month slowdown, IT sectors have started seeing some green shoots, and different started in July 2023. An average 10% increase, average of hiring. If possible, throw some highlights as on second quarter, our strategies for hiring and any... Also, GCC, ER&D, and GS treatment is robust despite larger tech companies go down. CapEx program for this, if possible, some highlights.
CapEx program for next to three years, mostly our respected Chairman mentioned about Engineering, and Consulting, cybersecurity risk, and FullStride Cloud, and also other service products. If possible, throw some highlights and the order booking status, as on second quarter, financial year 2024 and attrition rate. My previous speaker also mentioned about dividend payout. Sir, I noticed high 0.39% of the standalone profit is dividend payout, which is INR 1 per equity share, may be 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 subscribed. Yes or no, if possible, throw some highlights. About bonus year, my previous speaker also mentioned. Sir, my only issue, don't take it colorize our debt reduction policy.
I mentioned here, debt is INR 15,009 crores, it's mentioned. Finally, how my company face the challenges? The AI CEO last visited India for enhance that AI and ChatGPT, and this ChatGPT, GPT is in also in pipelines. How my company's management teams are preparing from come out these challenges? Thanking you. I 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, Dineet Dadu? Please go ahead, ma'am.
Good morning, respected chairperson and members of the board. My name is Dineet Dadu, folio number 60877758, president of Millennium Mams' Bangalore chapter and a proud shareholder of Wipro. 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. Thank you, Ms. Dadu. Your question is very precise. 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, please? Mr. Chopra, are you there?
Okay, since we are unable to get Mr. Chopra online, I request Rishad.
Yeah. let me
Questions, then.
I will do that. Thank you. Thank you to all of you for your questions. Mr. Ravichandran, let me start with you. First of all, thank you for being a shareholder for the last 13 years. We truly appreciate it. Your comment on the
Thierry being based in France as opposed to-
In France, as opposed to being based in the U.S.
Strategic call.
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
It was 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. It was very much an intentional, calculated call for us as an organization to drive that. 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 referred 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.
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. The other point, which is minute to note, is also the fact that because it's reported in INR and the salary and, you know, the currency has moved in terms of both dollar and euro, that also looks, you know, more exaggerated. You had a comment on services and getting into the product business. You know, 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, or how do we leverage IP and our capabilities to take differentiated solutions to customers.
We have many examples of that in the company, which we will continue to drive, but our core will very much remain is services and a productized services company. We're not going to be building hardcore 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 borrowings is not a reflection of lack of cash, it's a reflection of just being strategically smart. We believe we can borrow cheaper and invest more impactfully, that's the logic for borrowing when on occasion we do borrow as a company. I will let Jatin also answer the question on the value of those investments for INR 560 crore and for the trade payables. Mr.
Mehta, your comment on the buyback is appreciated. I also appreciate your comment on the dividend. You know, 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. 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 sensitive and maintain the highest standards of governance on 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 three years.
It's something that we felt was quite logical and fair to make when we made it. That part is appreciated. I also appreciate your point on the share price, and we all appreciate that as an organization and 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. you know, 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, you know, 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. We continue to invest in areas of investment. Certainly, AI is an area that data and AI 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. Again, the same answer holds true, which is we think about this holistically. We continue to maintain a payout of 45%-50% of net income, which we have, and we will continue very much to be focused on that as we move forward, as well.
You know, you had some questions on AI, which we've answered earlier, so I will 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. The last question on, you know, 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. 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. 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. Jatin do you want to just answer some of the specific-
Yes.
financial questions, please?
Yes. I will respond to three 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 2023, 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. Therefore, there was a timing mismatch, and therefore, the contribution to that extent was lower in the earlier part of FY 2023. The second question and third question, I will combine.
sir, the financials that you are referring to is the standalone financials of Wipro Limited, and therefore, two of your questions, the one regarding the reduction in a 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 sub-subsidiary to operate with. Sometimes the business continues to come through the branch, and we don't get the business from subsidiary to that extent. Now, to that extent, we reduce the value of subsidiary, but there is no impact on consolidated financials of Wipro. There is no impact on the reported revenue, profits or earning 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. Therefore, I would request you to not regard that as a significant point to assess the overall performance of the company. Equally, the INR 800 crore of trade payables that you referred to, you referred to the standalone financials of the company. 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 owes money to, and that number is insignificant. Even if you look at 90 days, 365 days or three-year thresholds, as they are normally seen in these terms. 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?
Hello? Hello.
Yes. Okay.
Hello.
Thank you. We are able to hear your question, Mr. Vijay. We have noted, we'll get revert back to you. Can we move to the next shareholder, Kaushik Shahukar? Mr. Kaushik? If Mr. Kaushik is not able to come online. 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. Redappa Gundalu?
Thank you, Company Secretary, for giving this opportunity. First of all, my Chairman, Founder Chairman, Azim Sir, our Rishad sir. Our MD CEO, Thierry Delaporte, ko, our Tulsi Naidu Sir, Acharya Sir, our Dalal Ji, Ireena Vittal Ji, Deepak Madhav Sir, our Patrick Dupuis and Patrick J. Ennis, and Rekha Menklisicher, and Sanaullah Khan, my Company Secretary. Sir, my name is Redappa Gundalu. I'm from Hyderabad. I'm a financial advisor, sir. Sir, as a shareholder, I am very proud about the, my company performance of financial 2023. Mr. Chairman, MD CEO, has given very good information about the, my company performance, financial 2023. Sir, 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 in information, able to know, sir, and also very colorful, informative, each and everything, sir. That is the reason, special thanks goes to all the KMPs of my company, and also especially Company Secretary to making this annual report. It's very difficult to create, sir. Sir, salary sacrifice...
Thank you, sir.
Also, sir, corporate governance, sir. Under the leadership of all the Founder Chairman and also my Company Secretary, there is a world-class corporate governance. I have not seen other company with transparent governance, ethically, sir, with values, sir. You have created my company with ethics and value, Mr. Rishad Premji. As a shareholder, I have very good memories and physical agents. I met Azim Sir, actually, sir, Azim Sir, in 2018, I guess. We learned so many things, the legend leader of Azim Sir. As a investor, as a shareholder, as a entrepreneur, as a advisor, a lot of things I used to implement in my life also. Thank you, sir. Sir, financial parts of, congratulations for INR 11,000 billion revenue you have achieved, sir. It's a wonderful sign. My company is very good part. Strong and consistent performance, Mr.
Chairman and MD, sir. Thank you for dividend also, sir. Always, my company is giving to wealth creation to the shareholders, investors. That is the reason, recently, my bank also, you have announced it, sir. What a wonderful company, my sir!
Thank you.
Sir, my company is all literally having a growth mindset and the humility attitude. Wonderful, sir. Thank you for the growth mindset, sir. Sir, I would like to thank. Sir, please give me one minute, sir. This is a chance. My company is performing well under your service. I wanted to recognize, I wanted to acknowledge. That's the reason, please give me one minute extra. Sir, we have seen the lot of awards, especially the Google Cloud Partner of the Year Award, Microsoft Partner of the Year winner, other AWS, so many, sir. Thank you so much, sir. As usual, every year I will getting, next year, current financial year also, we'll achieve, sir. Thank you so much, sir. Sir, yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Yeah, yeah, I have queries also. I have questions also. Sir, I'm concluding, sir. Please give me one minute, sir. My question is, sir, what is the impact on our business and geo, geopolitical issues? What is the acquire, the company's policy, strategic policy, what are you implementing? Also, sir, please comment on this AI, sir. Nowadays, AI is a very good, sir. What type of project you are having, AI? Also, sir, cloud projects. How many cloud projects we are having, or your solution we are giving? Also, I would like to know, what is the Cloud Car, sir? Can you please brief me? Cloud Car is a very fantastic solution.
Sir, the other expenses parts are steeply increased from INR 2,903 million versus INR 11,015 million, sir. What is the steep increase in other expenses, sir? I would like to know, sir.
Sir, these are my observations, Sir. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. Azim Sir, under your leadership, Sir.
Yunus Rangwala, please. Mr. Yusuf Yunus Rangwala. Mr. Yusuf, can you ask your question, please?
Good afternoon, sir.
Hello. Hi, sir. Please go ahead.
Good, good afternoon, sir. Sir, I'm speaking from city of Mumbai. Sir, I'm very happy and very proud to be excellent Company Secretary, Mr. Sanaullah Khan. Sir, very happy. Late Eid Mubarak, sir. Eid Mubarak, sir. Sir, now be direct point. For 52 pages, very excellent, very handsome, and very colorful. Sir, directly point. Sir, for example, Santur. Sir, Santur, I'm very happy. Sir, what is the total number of experiences and which are the new product in the shop division? I would like to know which are the new flavor. Sir, market, product, sir, all over India. Sir, software, we are the one of the leader. Sir, Infosys, TCS, or company, in this company, and Azim Premji, thank you very much, sir. Azim, sir, happy Eid Mubarak, sir. How is our Chairman, sir? Give my regard. Our excellent Chairman, sir.
Our bonus, sir, 75th year, bonus, sir, for that, I am very thankful for that, sir. Sir, many, many years have passed, many two years have passed, sir, I request for the bonus issue or whether we can a dividend, INR 1 or INR 2, sir. That is a very good, very handsome. I'm very happy, sir. What you are... Yes, sir.
Sir.
Yes, sir.
Thank you so much.
Two minutes, sir. Two minutes, sir. Two minutes. Thank you very much. May God bless our company. Sir. I would like to meet our company's Chairman, sir. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Rangwala.
Thank you.
brought a smile
On our faces. Thank you.
Thank you so much for that. Can we go to the next shareholder, please? Sunil Kumar Moda.
Hello. Can you hear me, sir?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Good morning to Mr. Azim Premji, our respected Owner, Chairman, and... Namaste, sir, pranam, and good morning to respected Chairman of the meeting, Board of Directors, MD, Company Secretary, my fellow shareholder. I am Sunil Moda, joining this from my residence at Kolkata. My number is 120109220584698. From being a family-run vegetable oil manufacturer in 1945, we established as a diversified global business and technology consulting leader. We are proud that we are the shareholders in like company like Wipro. Significant slowdown of various sectors during and after COVID-19, our company has shown very good performance, very good results. Double-digit growth over two consecutive years, our company performed. Thank for buyback. Small share, shareholders benefited a lot. Mr.
Sanahullah, Secretary and his team, helped a lot towards small shareholders and maintain good relations. Thank you, Mr. Sanahullah and his team. Sir, very good inaugural speech by Chairman and MPs. Very good, very informative. We get a very impressive future of our company. Sir, I would like to know roadmap of our company for next two, three years, and also how much employment do you provide current year and coming years? With this, I conclude my speech. Thank you very much. Namaste, sir.
Thank you, sir. Can we go to the next set of shareholders now, please? We will answer the questions after that. The next shareholder is Mr. Mohammed Qureshi. Can we have the next set of shareholders?
If we can't get, Mr. Qureshi, we should move.
Can we have the next set of shareholders?
That's it.
Hello?
Hello.
Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, Sirji, good morning to everybody attending this AGM. Myself, Om Prakash Kejriwal, your equity shareholder from Kolkata. Thank you, Sirji, for providing me the platform to speak something before you. Thanks to Ishika Jain and Rajat Shet for helping me in registration as a speaker shareholder. Thank you. Sir, 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. Sir, I have one request. Please split our shares in the ratio of 2:1, so that more and more small investors could join our company. I will not say to issue bonus share, but I insist for a 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 salary and allowances. We are giving handsome return to our shareholders in the form of dividends, bonus shares, split, buyback of shares. 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 it must be appreciated. Sir, I have two, three 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.
Sometimes back, we were talking about cloud technology, but today we are talking about AI. How much this AI will affect in employment generations? Sir, is it dangerous for we human beings as well as nature? 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, as I think. Please share your views. At last, Sir, please maintain your smile and be cheerful. We will remain with you always as a long way. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Mohammed Qureshi, can you ask your question? Mr. Mohammed Qureshi, are you able to hear me? Mr. Mohammed 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?
Hello.
Yes, yes, Mr. Jain, please go ahead. We are able to hear you.
Yes, Jai Jinendra, sabko, Mr. Premji and all board members, MD, CEO, sabiko, mera Dilip Kumar Jain, Jaipur se, Jaipur, Pink City se bol raha hun. Aapko bahot sabko bahot badhai itne excellent results ke liye aur aapne jo buyback kiya, uske liye bhi aapko bahot dhanyavad. Umeed karte hai agar bhi aap aise hi dete rahenge aur koi bonus ka ya agar koi reward aapke unused funds jo pade hai, unka de toh aur achcha lagega. Baaki kabhi, itne badi sab cheezein waise toh sab mere previous shareholders ne bol di hai. Usko repeat karne se koi faeda nahi hai, time lene se. Isliye sir, mera aapse request hai ki kabhi bhi aap agar Jaipur aaye, toh agar aisa koi program ho, toh hume zaroor inform karein, hum aapse milna chahenge. Agar Pink City mein aap.
Thank you, Mr. Jain. Can we move to the next shareholder, Alka Karnani?
Hello. Can you hear me, please?
Yes, yes, ma'am. Kindly go ahead.
Okay. Good morning, respected Chairman, sir. I'm Alka Karnani, a proud shareholder of the company and a member of Millennium 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. Thank you, Ma'am. Do we have any other shareholder ready to ask the question? Otherwise, we'll 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. I'll pass some of them on to Thierry and Jatin as well. Mr. Vijay, you know, we've as we've said before, that our returns to shareholders is a combination of buyback and dividend. We think about it holistically as a combination of those two elements. Mr. Gundalu, thank you for your comments and your words of appreciation and praise for the company. Can you mute them so I can finish? He hasn't been, yeah. You had, which Thierry will address some questions on the geopolitics, on AI, cloud, Cloud Car, which he will address. Mr. Yusuf Rangwala, thank you for your comments and your words of appreciation. Very much appreciated them. Mr.
Moda, you know, you had a question on employment and just broad strategy, which I'll let Thierry answer as well. Mr. Om Prakash Kejriwal, your comment on, you know, ensuring that we can be more accommodated through virtual meetings is 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. Your comment on the bank, you know, the challenge with banking clients, and again, the disruption of AI, Thierry will take. You know, Mr. Dilip Jain, again, thank you for your comments. Certainly, agar Jaipur mein kuch ho raha hai toh hum aapko bilkul rakha karenge. You know, Alka, I'll let Thierry also talk a little bit about the outlook. Thierry.
Okay. Rishad, thank you. A couple of points I had noted. The question around geopolitical impact. Of course, I mean, we mentioned it in our speeches earlier. You know, we are obviously, you know, like you, living in a world where there's, you know, geopolitical instability and challenges, you know, whether they are energy-based or, you know, 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 in conflict.
We even have a very specific strategy for selecting countries where we want to invest. We are restricting our, you know, investments to those countries where there's stability. That is, therefore, from a geopolitical standpoint, we are not directly impacted by any conflict at the moment. There was one question around acquisitions. I think our approach continues to be the same. That is that, you know, we are looking at acquisition 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 a industry standpoint, or from a technology standpoint.
There were several questions around AI. Obviously, you know, we fully recognize. You probably, you're exactly, you're well connected with, you know, the evolution of this world. AI is actually going to become a reality for every one of us. There was one question around what it will trigger. What can be the consequences for employees or for jobs? There was also one question around, you know, is AI going to be a good thing or a bad thing for our societies? As you can imagine, at Wipro, you know, our human focus, our sense of purpose, is completely embedded in the way we are looking at technology. For us, technology is progress for the world whenever it drives, you know, good things, okay?
This is very clear that the way we are approaching this technology, the way we are developing AI with our clients, is with this ethical focus in mind, and that, you know, we want to drive responsible AI, you know, developments with our clients. For our employees, you must consider the following: For every one of us, whether, you know, 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 tasks that can be delivered by artificial intelligence technology. Therefore, if you are well-trained on artificial intelligence, you'll be able to leverage the technology to save time and be more productive.
That is, you know, what we are doing with every one of us, all our associates around the world. Be trained, understand how can AI, you know, make them more productive, augment their capabilities to be more efficient, to be able to, you know, access to, you know, more quality data and drive development of our programs for our clients in a more efficient way. There were questions for cloud. 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. It is, you know, thousands of projects that we are delivering every day for our clients. Questions around the Cloud Car.
If you look at the way the car industry has evolved, it has moved from, you know, mechanical world to technology, to data, to mobility. What we are doing with, you know, our Cloud Car, you know, center of excellences and, you know, technology and assets, is to work on all the technology that makes your car more intelligent, more, you know, collecting all the data, analyzing, providing response, connecting with, you know, environment outside of the car. 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, you know, car manufacturer around the world.
Maybe one point on banks, there was a question around risk of banks going bankrupt. Yes, we are working with a lot of banks. Our banking sector represent about a third of our business worldwide. The number one market for us is in America. For sure, we have a very diligent assessment of the financial health of every clients that we are working with. We, at any moment in time, review our position with these clients and assess whether we have to take, you know, extra measures to minimize, mitigate, or reduce the risk of working with these clients. We do not have such concern at the moment, we continue to work with our clients, for sure we'll continue to apply the same diligence going forward.
Jatin, back to you.
Thanks, Thierry. I will just respond to two specific questions. One was around how many new customers we added in FY 2023. We added 435 new customers. Roughly half of them came because of our large acquisition, Rizing. As it always happens, the new acquisition bring the new customers that we can nurture. The other question was around other expenses, I just want to refer to the specific page in annual report. It's page 243, if you see, the other expenses have gone up from 666 crores in FY 2022 to 860 crores, which is pretty much in line with the company's growth of 11.5%.
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 2023. back to you, Sunil.
Yeah. 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.
Hello? Yeah, I'm audible, sir.
Mr. Bharat?
Hello. Yeah, I'm audible, sir. Hello?
Yeah. Hi.
Go ahead, Mr. Bharat.
Sir, I'm audible, sir?
Yes, please.
Very good morning, sir, entire board of directors. I'm Bharat Raj, calling from Hyderabad. First of all, I'm thank my Chairman, Mr. Rishad Premji, for a wonderful performance, completing 11 billion dollar company under your leadership, sir. I'm very proud of Mr. Thierry Delaporte is doing wonderful job performance and making my company to the next level. Thank you, Mr. Thierry Delaporte, MD and CEO for our company. I thank my Company Secretary, Mr. Khan. Chairman, he has sent me the annual report in time, and he's always accessible for us in 24 into seven. Thanks for your 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.
Regarding this U.S. recession, sir, how we are facing the challenge? This will be impact on our Indian company. There is no recruitment at present. How we are facing the challenge, sir? What is your future plans? Sir, regarding the shareholder, sir, last year we received INR 6 as a dividend, sir. This year, you have given only INR 1, sir. Please let me know, we expect any interim dividend. Second thing, sir, in 2019, you have given bonus, sir. After till five years, you have not received any bonus. Last year was a platinum jubilee. We expected a bonus, sir. We expected now a buyback, sir. After this buyback, can we expect a bonus, sir? Please consider bonus issue, sir. Sir, I'm very proud, sir.
My company, total employment percentage is 36, sir. Women's recruitments are wonderful, sir. I'm very proud there are women directors are there. Thank you for making a good corporate governance, sir. I hope you'll continue this coming days also, coming years also, sir. CSR is wonderful, sir. Once again, sir, regarding this AI and digital, what is your future plan, sir? How you want to take my company next five years? Please let me know, sir. Regarding this artificial intelligence and digital, sir, next five years, sir, please let me know, sir. Once again, Mr. Chairman, my small request is, sir, please arrange a physical AGM next year, sir. Physical AGM creates lot of impact and interaction with the shareholders.
Whenever you arrange a physical AGM, I used to come from Hyderabad and meet you personally, sir. That is like a festival, sir. If you conduct an AGM, we'll have a very good interaction, we know what is happening, sir. 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.
Thank you.
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 Rajat Ji and Ishika Madam, for maintaining good relationship with them, and also for the investor friendly relation for the entire team. Chairman, sir, under your initial speech, you have clearly explained about our co- organization stands, 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 digitalization initiatives. Any tie-up and our position regarding this? The cybersecurity an 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 through the slowing down in our business. Sir, highlight on our strategy and investments to enable customers to accelerate their digital transformation. Sir, as you explained, sir, as AI is the next gen, sir, kindly highlight on the AI lab and the academy which we have to develop the skilled talent. Congrats for the rewards, which we have achieved mentioned in page 26, and helped out to the society under our different foundation programs. Sir, apart from the large client base and winning by big deals, highlight on our strength for future growth and new innovative programs through R&D. Sir, nothing to add more. I've supported all the resolutions and through this video conference, which helps us to get in touch with you, sir.
Sir, with the trust and belief we have in our company, hope we will come out with much more positive results. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
All stay safe.
Can we have the next shareholder, Mr. Atanu Saha, please? Thank you.
Am I audible? Am I audible, sir?
Yes, sir. Go ahead.
Good morning. Good morning to the east, and good morning, early good morning to the rest of the world. I, Atanu Saha, a shareholder of Wipro Limited. My number, IN 300251312863390. Another one, HW 42. Sir, my respected Chairman and Board of Directors, and before that, I wish to go off thanks to our founder, our supremo, Azim Premji, Namaskar. Sir, my respected Chairman and Board of Directors and all independent directors and my viewers and all shareholders present in this annual general meeting, this virtual meeting. Sir, I, Atanu Saha, today is 12th July, 2023, our company organizing its 77th annual general meeting. Sir, thanks to give our company that they give me chance to speak.
My previous shareholders already from Southern Ji , till now, number of questions raised, so not necessary. My only two questions, sir, what about our sales growth? Second one, sir, how do we influence FII, sir? I already casted my vote, both side. Sir, I wish a good year ahead with good result, divided at all…
Thank you.
good health to everybody. Thank you.
Thank you.
Now I forward to our director. Thank you. Namaskar.
Good. Go to the-
Thank you.
next shareholder, please. Miss Amita. Amita Patel?
Good morning, sir. Respected Chairman, sir, and members of the board. I'm Amita Patel, a proud shareholder of Wipro, folio number 1301240003482453, and 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. However, the promoter holding is already reaching the threshold of 75%. What was the reason behind it? 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.
Can you hear me, sir?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes.
I'm Prakashini Ganesha Shenoy from Mumbai. Respected honorable Chairman, Sri Premji, other dignitaries on the board, my fellow shareholders, good morning to all of you. I received the annual report well in time, which is colorful, transparent, informative, knowledgeable, and contains all the information as per the corporate governance. I thank Mr. Sanaullah Khan and Rajat Shet for the same. I should not forget to thank them once again for connecting me and giving me an opportunity to speak. Thank you once again, Mr. Sanaullah Khan and Mr. Rajat Ji. The Chairman and MD has given a fair picture regarding the company, its working in all parameters. I am glad that the company is doing very well in all the fields when compared to the last year.
Example, revenue. Revenue rose from INR 7 lakh 95,000 to INR 89 to INR 9 lakh 9,348. In the same way, even the profit grew better than last year. Sir, I'm thankful to the Chairman for buyback and also for introducing Cloud, which has been the highest revenue during the year. I'm proud to be a shareholder of Wipro Company. Sir, I'm thankful to the board for recommending dividend for the financial year 2022-2023. At the outset, I congratulate one and all staff for getting various awards and recognition during the year. This shows their sincerity and hard work. I congratulate the management for doing outstanding work in the field of CSR during the year, in the field of health, education, et cetera. Sir, I have few questions.
My first question is: I know that as on date, there are 2,57,311 dedicated employees. Please let me know how many are women and what is their percentage? My next question is: what is the future of the company? My next question is: how are we planning to increase revenue in future? Next question is: how do we adopt digital technology to increase the productivity? How much amount was spent on CSR during the year? Sir, last but not the least, I request the Chairman personally, and as my previous predecessor 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, pray God that the profit of the company shall reach the peak in due course. Sir, I strongly and wholeheartedly support all the resolutions put forth in today's meeting. Thank you, Sir.
Thank you very much, ma'am.
Okay.
We'll answer the question.
Okay.
This, we are wrapping up.
Yeah, yeah.
Q&A from the shareholders, and we will answer all the questions.
Thank you, and thank you to all.
A lot of questions that are repeat. In the interest of time, 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 bonus is noted. Your appreciation for our diversity and for our CSR efforts is noted. We've also taken into consideration your request for a physical AGM. Mr. Bakshi, you know, we work with the government, 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. 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. We talked about the economic environment and the impact of inflation and the war, the uncertainty more broadly as well. We won't repeat those, in the interest of time. Appreciate the recognition of the buyback. You know, 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.
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. Again, your comment on you know, having the AGM through a VC is noted. I will request Thierry to quickly just touch on the one question that came up on Europe, perhaps, and you can.
Europe.
Europe and Ukraine, specifically to Ukraine. You know, we have no operations in Ukraine. No, 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, or impacted, if you like, from this tragedy.
Super. Great. You know, thank you all for participating and, you know, and sharing your comments and appreciation as well as your questions. All the items of the businesses 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 InstaPoll e-voting facility will continue to be available for 30 minutes after this meeting. 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.