MUMBAI, FEB 18: The manipulation in Wipro stock continued on Friday with the scrip rising yet another 8 per cent and the market capitalisation of the company vaulting to Rs 2,00,000 crore mark. While other infotech stocks were hammered on the Bombay Stock Exchange, speculators and funds are continuing their buying exercise, making it the most expensive scrip in India.Wipro has zoomed by over 300 per cent in the last three weeks. ``It was a one-way rise. There seems to be excessive speculation in the scrip. The exchange authorities should shift the scrip to the spot delivery system to curb excessive speculation in Wipro. Surprisingly, SEBI and exchanges which talk of market stability have failed to curb the rigging in Wipro,'' said an analyst.With a market cap of Rs 200,000 crore, Wipro's is making the bulk of BSE's total market cap of Rs 12,00,000 crore (over $ 256 billion). Wipro's market is followed only by Infosys at around Rs 72,000 crore. In fact, Wipro's dream-rise continued despite a profit warning from the company. A senior official of the company said on Thursday net profit growth in 99/00 (April-March) will be lower than 118 per cent achieved in the nine months ended December 1999Thanks to massive price rise, Wipro chairman and promoter, Azim Premzi's personal wealth has shot up to Rs 150,000 crore as he holds over 75 per cent stake in the company. This makes him one of the world's top five richest persons. With this, Premzi accounts for one-tenth of BSE's market capitalisation based on his 75 per cent stake in Wipro.Bangalore-based Wipro Ltd has interests in software development, hardware manufacturing and oil mills and also makes baby products. For the year ended March 1999, the company had recorded a net profit of Rs 170 crore which was a growth of over 58 per cent. The turnover for the same period was 30 per cent up at Rs 1,781 crore.
