Assocham backs Wipro, says did nothing wrong

Industry body Assocham today threw its weight behind Wipro, which has been debarred from doing business with the World Bank on the ground that the Indian IT major had issued ADRs to employees of the global lender in alleged violation of rules.

"Wipro did nothing wrong," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said in a statement here.

He said companies such as Wipro, TCS and Infosys practise the highest standards of business ethics and "India Inc would back the leading software firm".

Assocham said the Satyam case was an isolation which is under investigation by the government.

In a communication to over 1,00,000 employees Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said that the company has done nothing unethical.

"Let me reaffirm that Wipro was right from a legal as well as ethical standpoint. We believe what we did what was right and we did it in the right manner," he said.

The company, in 2000, had provided the Bank staff option to purchase its American Depository Shares at its Initial Public Offer (IPO) price through a Directed Share Programme. However, the Bank in June 2007 determined that this was a conflict of interest.