Wipro to exit PCs, and hardware business

Wipro Ltd, the country's third-largest software services provider, has decided to stop manufacturing computers and servers and instead focus on its core business of IT solutions and services.

Azim Premji-led Wipro is the second IT company to quit the hardware business after HCL Infosystems Ltd in recent times.

"Our vision is to strengthen our position as a leading SI (system integrator). Manufacturing our own PCs was not giving us a competitive differentiation in our SI solution offering," Wipro Infotech senior VP and head Soumitro Ghosh said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Wipro will fulfill its warranty and annual maintenance contracts obligations as per the terms of the existing contracts, he added.

The company will meet all existing commitments and provide support services to the entire installed base as part of its regular managed services offering, Wipro said.

Wipro will also re-deploy all the affected employees in the company.

Wipro, which started marketing indigenous personal computers in 1985, has units in Kotdwar (Uttarakhand) and Puducherry to manufacture desktops, laptops, servers, notebooks and allied IT electronics.

The two facilities have a combined capacity of about 2.20 lakh units of desktops, laptops and servers.

Computer manufacturers in the country have been under pressure with new devices like tablets and phablets finding more takers and the currency fluctuation adding to import costs. Almost 90-95 per cent of the components used in the manufacture of PCS and other devices are imported.