His writings, in prose and poetry, on Sathya Sai Baba earned him a Guinness recordthis year. Simultaneously, he has steered his company to the billion-dollar mark through sheer endurance, grit and determination.

Raju was born in Antarvedipalem village of East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, on April 18, 1937. His early life was both tough and challenging. Family circumstances compelled him to drop out of school and work on agricultural fields and in the construction and industrial sectors.

“I had to quit school and serve my parents for two years when they were not well. This service has given me all the strength and talent I have,” he says philosophically.

In 1956, when he was barely out of his teens, Raju ventured into business. After “testing the waters” for a few years, he went on to establish a series of companies including Nagarjuna Steel, AVS Containers, NCC Bluewater Products, NCC Finance, Kolleru Food Products, Deccan Cements and Grape gardens.

Finally, in 1978, Raju promoted the Nagarjuna Construction Company and succeeded in turning it into a public limited company in 1990. It was listed on the BSE and NSE in 1992. The pan-India company went global with offices in the UAE and Oman.

Raju recently stepped down from the position of Executive Chairman. But his work is far from over. Even today he works 18 hours a day. “I get up at 4 a.m. and keep working. I am very particular about time and appointments,” he says, adding that he’s never been late to an appointment. “Even if there is an earthquake, he will not be late”, his officials and friends concur.

Seated in a wheelchair at his Hyderabad home, his collection of writings beside him, Raju recalls an incident from the past: “My eldest son, who was then studying for his Class X exams, saw me worried and asked the reason. I told him that I had promised some money to a gentleman in the nearby village, but could not go because of his exams. My son said ‘I will not write the exam, I’ll go and give the money’, which he did and thus kept my word.”

Asked about the important lessons learnt from the experience of starting various businesses, Raju says, “We have learnt from failures that our core business is construction. Also, the company has been able to exit with honour from some of its failures.

“For example, we exited from Nagarjuna Finance Company after paying interest to people. Similarly, at NCC Bluewater Products, which we lost, we have repaid all the bank loans with interest,” he says with pride. He cites the Tatas’ example and says companies should inculcate quality, goodness and ethics, and guard against mistakes. “We don’t want to compromise on quality, because one mistake can mar our reputation. In NCC we have a quality cell. Further, mistakes spread at express speed while goodness travels slowly,” he says. As far as business is concerned, he says his success mantra involves goodness, honesty, common sense, hard work and a stroke of luck.

On people management, a major HR challenge faced by corporates today, the NCC founder says, “We should recognise that there are three types of people — first, second and third-class. The first-class type is the one who finds out the needs of a company and works accordingly. The second type works when told and the third-class type does not do even if told.”

As a company, NCC does not believe in sacking employees and instead attempts to improve productivity. “We have given jobs to even those who have not passed Xth standard, and trained and moulded them. The company employs over 4,000 staff across 100 sites in 22 States and a few abroad. The labour force involved is nearly one lakh.”

Raju sets great store by the value of samishti, or togetherness. “My philosophy is to keep our family together,” says this father of ten. So, you find that all his seven sons work with NCC, as also two sons-in-law. The third son-in-law runs his own business.

Interestingly, Raju, who is also a philanthropist, is against giving donations to old-age homes as he believes the whole concept goes against samishti.

Politics is another of those things he’s against, because “whatever you do, it gets you a bad name”. International travel also holds no interest for him. “I am not much of a traveller, with visits to the US, Singapore, Germany and Malaysia to show,” he adds.

Looking ahead, Raju says social service and writing are on his agenda. Having established the NCC Foundation to provide education, healthcare and shelter for needy and orphan children, he proposes to earmark 2 per cent of company profits towards the organisation from March 2009. “I will also continue writing and publishing,” he adds, determined to pursue a passion which gained him entry into the Limca Book of Records for four consecutive years.

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