Wipro has fixed June 5 as the record date to determine the entitlement and the names of equity shareholders eligible to participate in the buyback as per a company regulatory filing for its ₹15,000-crore share buyback. The IT major seeks to return excess cash to shareholders even amid growing industry pressure to step up investments in AI capabilities and acquisitions.
In April, Wipro’s board approved a ₹15,000-crore buyback at ₹250 per share, involving up to 60 crore shares, or 5.7 per cent of the company’s total paid-up equity capital. The move marks the largest buyback in Wipro’s history, exceeding the ₹12,000-crore buyback announced in June 2023, when the company had proposed to repurchase up to 26.96 crore shares, representing 4.91 per cent of its paid-up equity capital, at ₹445 per share.
Capital allocation
During its Q4 earnings call conference, Aparna Iyer, Chief Financial Officer, explained, “We are returning excess cash on our balance sheet. The available net cash can support all our M&A ambitions and investments for our recent large and strategic deals. We are making sure we have enough for our investments in our newly formed Wipro Intelligence Platform units. This is the return of excess cash that was due to the shareholders. We believe this is a good use of cash since we have a good war chest to support our ambitions. We continue to generate 112 per cent of our net income as operating cash flows.”
Separately, in September 2025, Infosys’ board approved its largest-ever share buyback worth ₹18,000 crore, proposing to repurchase up to 10 crore shares at ₹1,800 apiece. The buyback represented up to 2.41 per cent of the company’s existing total paid-up equity share capital on a standalone basis.
“Wipro’s ₹15,000 crore buyback underlines its confidence in its balance sheet and future outlook. But at a time when the IT sector is entering a heavy AI investment cycle, the move also raises a broader capital allocation question. Investors would want to see a balanced approach between rewarding shareholders and continuing to invest aggressively in AI capabilities, acquisitions and execution. That said, Wipro remains comfortably placed from a cash perspective, so the focus now shifts to how effectively it translates its AI strategy into revenue growth and, consequently, stronger balance sheet growth over the next few quarters,” observed Tushar Badjate, Director of Badjate Stock Shares.
Pareekh Jain, Founder and CEO, EIIR Trend, explained that Wipro is sitting on a lot of cash reserves, which it can either deploy toward acquisitions and AI investments or return to shareholders.
“With IT stocks under pressure this year, buybacks are a way to reward shareholders and support investor sentiment by improving earnings per share through a reduction in outstanding shares,” he said.
In recent years, Wipro has pursued a mix of capability-led acquisitions, including the $375 million acquisition of HARMAN’s Digital Transformation Solutions (DTS) business in 2025 to strengthen its AI and engineering offerings, and the $375 million acquisition of Olam Group’s IT services arm Mindsprint in April.
“Given subdued market conditions, this is seen as an appropriate time for buybacks, particularly for companies that are not pursuing aggressive acquisitions. Typically, firms balance shareholder returns through three routes — acquisitions that drive growth, dividends, or buybacks. The trade-off, however, is that reducing cash reserves through buybacks could limit flexibility for future acquisitions and expansion opportunities,” Jain noted.
Wipro’s shares closed at ₹203.10 today, up 1.65 per cent on the BSE.