Wipro Buyback 2026: Expected premium on share repurchase | What buyback history suggests
Wipro shares buyback: Ajim Premji-founded Wipro will announce its results for the March 2026 quarter and buyback of shares on Thursday, April 16, 2026.
- Apr 16, 2026,
- Updated Apr 16, 2026 1:06 PM IST
Wipro shares buyback: Ajim Premji-founded IT solutions major Wipro Ltd will announce its results for the quarter and financial year ended on March 31, 2026 on Thursday, April 16. The company board will also consider and approve a buyback of its equity shares in its board meeting later today.
According to the historical trends, Wipro's buyback is likely to happen around Rs 242-252 per share. This is based on Wipro's last three buybacks, which happened at a premium of 16-20 per cent. The stock was trading at Rs 209-212 range on Thursday, suggesting a given range. The total market capitalization of Wipro stood at Rs 2.2 lakh crore.
Prior to this, Wipro's last buyback was in April 2023, with an issue size of Rs 12,000 crore at a price of Rs 223 apeice, giving a premium of 18 per cent for investors. It bought back 4.91 per cent of its equity. Before that, Wipro bought back its 4.16 per cent equity at Rs 200 apiece, at a premium of 19 per cent, in October 2020. Its buyback was valued at Rs 9,500 crore.
And the third recent buyback from Wipro came in April 2019, when it repurchased its 5.35 per cent shares at Rs 163 apiece, at a premium of 16 per cent, aggregating to Rs 10,500 crore. Its last three buyback's have been in 23-30 per cent of its cash deployment as of the close of previous quarter.
It will be Wipro's first buyback after a three years gap. The buyback is largely on the expected lines with brokerage firm Investec estimating a Rs 16,000 crore buyback, while Morgan Stanley valuing the issue around Rs 18,000 crore for the IT player. Wipro's current cash balance stood at Rs 41,510 crore, as of end for the December 2025 quarter, highest among its peers.
Morgan Stanley on Wipro
Buyback is largely anticipated, but timing uncertainty could drive a near-term positive reaction. Past buybacks saw the stock outperform in the most post announcement. Near-term sentiment is positive but focus is likely to shift back to weak FY27 revenue growth outlook, said Morgan Stanley, which has an 'underweight' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 242.
Buyback of shares: New rules and taxation
India's Finance Act 2026 introduced new rules for share buybacks, effective from April 1, 2026, stating that the buyback proceeds shall be considered capital gains for shareholders rather than dividends, and only the profit will be taxed. This means that the buyback price will be subtracted from the acquisition cost to determine the taxable amount.
Retail investors will face a long-term tax rate of 12.5 per cent, while promoters could be taxed up to 30 per cent, plus surcharges. This approach aims to enhance tax efficiency for shareholders but may limit promoter-driven buybacks. It is important to note that shares held for less than 12 months will be treated as short-term capital gains and taxed at a rate of 20 per cent.
Earlier, the entire buyback amount was treated as deemed dividend and taxed at applicable slab rates under income from other sources while acquisition cost of shares bought back was treated as capital loss, to be adjusted from short or long term capital gains or carried forward for up to eight years in case of no capital gains during the year, said Sunny Agrawal, Head of Fundamental Research at SBI Securities.
Buybacks are no longer a structured play as the tax arbitrage has been scrapped, but its pure pricing game now, said Trivesh D, COO at Tradejini. "For investors today, it’s simply a trade-off between certainty of execution and probability of better returns."
Wipro shares buyback: Ajim Premji-founded IT solutions major Wipro Ltd will announce its results for the quarter and financial year ended on March 31, 2026 on Thursday, April 16. The company board will also consider and approve a buyback of its equity shares in its board meeting later today.
According to the historical trends, Wipro's buyback is likely to happen around Rs 242-252 per share. This is based on Wipro's last three buybacks, which happened at a premium of 16-20 per cent. The stock was trading at Rs 209-212 range on Thursday, suggesting a given range. The total market capitalization of Wipro stood at Rs 2.2 lakh crore.
Prior to this, Wipro's last buyback was in April 2023, with an issue size of Rs 12,000 crore at a price of Rs 223 apeice, giving a premium of 18 per cent for investors. It bought back 4.91 per cent of its equity. Before that, Wipro bought back its 4.16 per cent equity at Rs 200 apiece, at a premium of 19 per cent, in October 2020. Its buyback was valued at Rs 9,500 crore.
And the third recent buyback from Wipro came in April 2019, when it repurchased its 5.35 per cent shares at Rs 163 apiece, at a premium of 16 per cent, aggregating to Rs 10,500 crore. Its last three buyback's have been in 23-30 per cent of its cash deployment as of the close of previous quarter.
It will be Wipro's first buyback after a three years gap. The buyback is largely on the expected lines with brokerage firm Investec estimating a Rs 16,000 crore buyback, while Morgan Stanley valuing the issue around Rs 18,000 crore for the IT player. Wipro's current cash balance stood at Rs 41,510 crore, as of end for the December 2025 quarter, highest among its peers.
Morgan Stanley on Wipro
Buyback is largely anticipated, but timing uncertainty could drive a near-term positive reaction. Past buybacks saw the stock outperform in the most post announcement. Near-term sentiment is positive but focus is likely to shift back to weak FY27 revenue growth outlook, said Morgan Stanley, which has an 'underweight' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 242.
Buyback of shares: New rules and taxation
India's Finance Act 2026 introduced new rules for share buybacks, effective from April 1, 2026, stating that the buyback proceeds shall be considered capital gains for shareholders rather than dividends, and only the profit will be taxed. This means that the buyback price will be subtracted from the acquisition cost to determine the taxable amount.
Retail investors will face a long-term tax rate of 12.5 per cent, while promoters could be taxed up to 30 per cent, plus surcharges. This approach aims to enhance tax efficiency for shareholders but may limit promoter-driven buybacks. It is important to note that shares held for less than 12 months will be treated as short-term capital gains and taxed at a rate of 20 per cent.
Earlier, the entire buyback amount was treated as deemed dividend and taxed at applicable slab rates under income from other sources while acquisition cost of shares bought back was treated as capital loss, to be adjusted from short or long term capital gains or carried forward for up to eight years in case of no capital gains during the year, said Sunny Agrawal, Head of Fundamental Research at SBI Securities.
Buybacks are no longer a structured play as the tax arbitrage has been scrapped, but its pure pricing game now, said Trivesh D, COO at Tradejini. "For investors today, it’s simply a trade-off between certainty of execution and probability of better returns."