New Delhi, Nov 18 (PTI) India's largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday said its shareholders have approved its up to Rs 16,000 crore share buyback plan.

Last month, TCS' board of directors had approved a proposal to buy back up to 5,33,33,333 equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount of up to Rs 16,000 crore.

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"....the members of the company have duly passed the special resolution approving the Buyback," TCS said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The voting, which started on October 20 and ended on November 18, saw 99.57 per cent of the votes being cast in favour of the buyback offer.

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There was 100 per cent voting in favour of the proposal by the promoters, 98.11 per cent by public institutional shareholders and 98.43 per cent by other shareholders.

TCS' smaller rival Wipro has also announced an up to Rs 9,500-crore buyback plan at Rs 400 per equity share.

TCS CEO and Managing Director Rajesh Gopinathan had earlier said the company is focused on its policy to return capital to shareholders.

The Mumbai-based company's cash reserves stood at Rs 58,500 crore as of September 2020.

Last year, TCS had offered a special dividend and this time it is undertaking a buyback, he had noted.

In October last year, TCS' board had declared a special dividend of Rs 40 per equity share.

In 2018, TCS had undertaken a share buyback of about Rs 16,000 crore.

In 2017 too the company had conducted a similar share purchase exercise.

The company had said its buyback offer was part of its long-term capital allocation policy of returning excess cash to shareholders.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)