Mumbai, Feb 10 (DHNS): Wipro chairman Azim Premji called upon Indian industry leaders to give their wealth back to the society on Wednesday. 

“People who have had the fortune to accumulate wealth should give it back to the society rather than passing it on to subsequent generations,” he said, while addressing the delegates at Nasscom Leadership Forum 2011.

The idea that the next generation of the family has a right to inherit wealth is not tolerable as it would increase the gap between haves and have-nots in the society, he said. He urged the industry to look at Egypt to understand the impact of widening income gap in the society. The turbulence in Egypt is likely to spread to few other Middle East countries as well, he noted.

Premji noted that the idea that the rich should commit their wealth to the benefit of society is gaining in USA, Europe and other parts of the world, including India.

The rare candid speech showed a usually reticent Premji talking the walk he has already made. He recently pledged to transfer shares valued at 90.7 billion rupees ($2 billion) to his trust, Azim Premji Foundation, and use the dividends to improve education facilities in India.

Earlier Premji noted that feeling threatened by China, the US and European CEOs were looking at India as an alternative to spread the geography risk. “Despite the problems we create for ourselves and the governance being in shambles, India was benefiting from this trend,” he said. As the economic growth in the West slowed, companies would have to embrace globalisation, diversify talent pool, cut cost and design products for the emerging markets.  As customers in emerging markets sought more value for money and more rugged solutions, companies would have to ‘build up’ products for these markets. He noted that GE’s low-cost healthcare products initially designed for India market, were finding a market elsewhere. They are being sold even in USA and Europe where customers had become more cost conscious, he said.

Globalisation also required that work forces moved across the national boundaries freely, the way good and services did, and putting protectionist barriers would be counter-productive, he said. The US will pay a price for what it is doing , he said referring to the recent spate of protectionist measures initiated by that country.