Tech billionaire Azim Premji who earlier this year said that he plans to give away a chunk of his wealth to charity, has taken a big step towards that avowed intent. Premji announced today that he is making the equivalent of a $2 billion endowment to a trust to fund his Azim Premji Foundation. Premji will transfer 213 million shares amounting to an 8.7% stake in his software outfit Wipro. The donation, to be completed by December 7, will bring down Premji’s holding in Wipro from 79% to nearly 70%. The software czar, India’s third richest person, had an estimated fortune of $17.6 billion in Forbes Asia’s recent ranking of India’s wealthiest businesspeople.

“I think this is spectacular,” said Rohini Nilekani, wife of Infosys Technologies co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who is an active philanthropist in her own right. “ It comes exactly at the right time when India’s very rich people have to show their personal commitment, from their own personal money, to achieve broader social justice.”