The counter has seen many rumours - like the company in midst of talks witha US company for a possible acquisition, a possible Nasdaq listing, etc.Rumours apart, let us take look at Wipro's fundamentals to ascertain whethera discounting of 750-plus is justified or not.

Wipro started off as a manufacturer of vegetable oils and soaps in 1945. Itlater diversified into fluid power, lighting, medical equipment, financialservices, software and hardware. However, the company owes its success inthe stock market to its foray into software and hardware. Both, software andhardware put together accounted for 67 per cent of the company's totalturnover for the year ended March 1999.

The main drivers of growth in Wipro are expected to be its software andtoiletries division. In software, Wipro is the second largest player and isgrowing strongly. According to industry experts, Wipro's software productportfolio is better than that of Infosys Technologies. Wirpo's softwareexports have grown at a very brisk pace and Wipro has emerged as the secondlargest domestic software exporter in 1999. Wipro has an impressiveclientele, which include Fortune 500 names like GE, AT&T, Bill Northern,Sun, Tandem, Seagate etc. Wipro also has a global research and developm-ent division which specialises in software for designing chips and hardwarecomponents.

Wipro charges a fixed sum plus royalty on these projects. Currently royaltyforms a nominal part of revenues. Wipro currently employs about 3000software professionals.

In the last couple of years, the company has taken few steps which has beenappreciated highly by the market. Wipro set up a subsi-diary in the US -Enthink - which focuses on a niche segment in hardware design; it desi-gns semiconductors for use in a range of devices.

Wipro also broke off its hardware joint venture with Acer and the companywas merged with Wipro last month. Wipro became an Internet service providerbusiness through a subsidiary, Wipro Net. KPN Royal Dutch Telecom holds a 45per cent stake in Wipro Net. The company achieved the SEI CMM level 5, acoveted recognition for a software unit. Only a handful of companiesworldwide are rated at that level.

Wipro is now focussing on business-to-business e-commerce, and banking onthis segment for growth in software exports. It plans to double the numberof employees working outside India. Presently, 900 of employees are workingoutside India. The company is also looking for a software product companyfor a possible acquisition. Infact this only fuelled the rumours of companygoing for a Nasdaq listing to finance the an acquisition abroad. There wasan exodus of senior officials in 1999, which made the market a littlesceptical about the company's performance in future.

Those fears gone now, analysts and punters are looking at Wipro with a neweye. The prospects for Wipro appear bright. Wipro's focus onbusiness-to-business e-commerce is likely to pay off, considering that it isstrongly positioned to take advantage of the emerging opportunities. In factanalysts expect a very good performance by the company in the fourthquarter. Specially, as even the hardware division is expected to do well.

The new millennium is expected to result in a surge in orders for hardwareequipment. Branded companies, such as Wipro, are expected to benefit from anincrease in orders in 2000.