Wipro's shareholders approve company's Rs 11,000 cr buyback proposal, shares marginally up

New Delhi: India’s third-largest software services firm Wipro today said its shareholders have approved the company’s Rs 11,000-crore buyback proposal. Last month, the Bengaluru-based firm had said it will purchase up to 343.75 million shares at Rs 320 (US $4.95) per scrip. The total size of the offer will be up to Rs 11,000 crore (US $1.7 billion). “The aforesaid special resolution has been passed through postal ballot and e-voting by members by requisite majority,” Wipro said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). [caption id=“attachment_516005” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro. Reuters[/caption] The voting, which ended on 28 August, saw 99.68 percent of the votes being cast in favour of the buyback offer. Wipro was trading marginally higher at Rs 291.40 on the BSE. Share buybacks improve earnings per share and return surplus cash to shareholders while also supporting share price during periods of sluggish market conditions. As on 30 June, 2017, Wipro had cash and cash equivalents of Rs 5,432 crore on its books and investments of Rs 31,772 crore, totalling Rs 37,204 crore. Among Indian IT companies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which had a cash kitty of over Rs 43,000 crore, has already completed a Rs 16,000 crore buyback programme earlier this year. Infosys has also announced a buyback offer of up to Rs 13,000 crore (US $2 billion) to be paid out to shareholders during the financial year 2018.