Mr. G. M. Rao , Mr. G. M. Rao , a mechanical engineer
by profession, is the founder Chairman of GMR Group, a leading
infrastructure developer in India. The Group is well diversified
and professionally managed with focus on business verticals
of Energy, Urban Infrastructure and Highways including SEZ,
Airports and Agri-business.
Born on July 14, 1950 in the small town of Rajam in the
Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, G M Rao established
the GMR business empire starting from a single jute mill
in Rajam in 1978.
A visionary businessman, G M Rao recognized the huge business
potential in entering the infrastructure space, with the
opening up of the power sector in the 90s in India. Within
a span of a decade, he successfully established three greenfield
power plants in the country, one each in the state of Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Under his guidance,
the Group is now developing several power projects in various
parts of the country.
G M Rao expanded the Group's presence in the infrastructure
sector by leading the Group's foray into roads.The Group
has already completed two Greenfield road projects and four
more projects are under various stages of implementation.
Realizing that Airports will drive the economy in the 21st
century, G M Rao spearheaded the Group's entry into the
high profile airport business. Under his leadership the
Group commissioned the new Greenfield Rajiv Gandhi International
airport on 23rd March, 2008, in Hyderabad, and also the
brand new International airport in Delhi was completed and
opened in time for the Common Wealth Games in 2010.
Under G M Rao's visionary leadership, the Group bagged its
first global project by winning the bid to modernise the
SabihaGokcen International (SGA) airport at Istanbul, Turkey
and also ventured into the new business sector of Urban
Infrastructure. The Group will set up a 3300 acre multi-product
SEZ in Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu.
G M Rao has today successfully established GMR Group as
one of the leading infrastructure organisations in India.
His commitment to the core infrastructure sector has resulted
in the Group exiting some of the highly lucrative businesses
of banking, insurance, breweries and jute. Rao was the largest
shareholder in the country's leading 75-year-old private
sector Vysya Bank, which has been successfully transformed
into a modern technology driven and hugely successful financial
enterprise. For his visionary approach and outstanding contribution
to ING Vysya Bank for a period of two decades as its Director
and Chairman, the Bank in September 2006 conferred on him
the status and title of 'Chairman Emeritus'.
He was chosen as the 'Entrepreneur of the year' at the Economic
Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2006 - 07 The award
has been given to him in recognition of his exemplary entrepreneurial
spirit and potential in breaking into the big league of
top infrastructure organizations in India. Besides infrastructure,
the other focus area for the GMR Group is Agri-business.
The Group already has a sugar plant in Andhra Pradesh and
is coming up with another in the state of Karnataka. The
existing plant provides livelihood for over 25000 farmers
from 500 villages of the region in one form or the other.
With a strong desire to serve the needs of the marginalized
sections and the rural society, Rao set up the GMR Varalakshmi
Foundation, to raise their living standards. The Foundation
is active in the areas of education, health and hygiene,
community development and empowerment of rural youth.
To face the challenges of tomorrow and meet the future needs
of a fast developing country like India, G M Rao has laid
a strong emphasis in building a transparent and system driven
organization. While a set of seven core values define the
GMR Group's distinct organization culture, Rao has also
spearheaded a "Family Constitution" model for the group.
The aim of this is to ensure a smooth transition of business
from generation to generation, and enable professionals
to discharge their rightful roles in the growth and development
of the Group. In line with this, over a period of time,
the members of the family would provide only the strategic
inputs and investment needs and counseling for all the businesses
and activities of the Group. G M Rao's thrust is on combining
the best of entrepreneurial spirit with a dynamic team of
professional managers who work in an enabling and vibrant
organisational culture, to sustain and consistently meet
his vision for the Group of 'Building Entrepreneurial organisations
that make a difference to society through Creation of Value'.