From $3,000 to $10 billion, how GMR built an infrastructure conglomerate

The story of Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao, or GMR as he is known, reads like a Bollywood movie where a young man with high hopes but no godfathers to back him, makes it big against all odds, including the ‘Licence Raj’ that shooed away, rather than welcomed, entrepreneurs.

Starting his entrepreneurial journey with just $3,000, GMR, a first-generation entrepreneur, went on to build an infrastructure conglomerate with assets worth $10 billion.

“After completing my engineering studies, I worked in a paper mill. After an unsuccessful stint at the job, I joined the family trading business. However, the entrepreneur inside me was not happy with the family business,” GMR said.

Relating his 50-year-journey as an entrepreneur to a gathering of fresh graduates at the Mahindra University Convocation on Saturday, he said, “I mobilised Rs 3 lakh with much difficulty, and started a jute mill in my village (Rajam), and made it successful,” he said.

It is not luck that has brought me this far. I will share with you my learnings and skills. During this time, I have donned different hats as a student leader, trader, manufacturer, banker, and now as an infrastructure developer,” he said.

Known for his exploits in the aviation sector from the early 2000s, GMR went on to start 28 new businesses during the ‘Licence Raj’. Terming the post-Licence Raj period as the ‘Golden Era’ of economic liberalisation, he consolidated his businesses to enter the infrastructure space.

Asking the students to be agile and show the willingness to adapt to changing circumstances, he said his company had appointed McKinsey to devise a future strategy for the group. 

“With this strategy, I consolidated and divested all the 28 businesses, including my banking business ‘Vysya Bank,’ which was core to my heart. Embrace the change, is the message I am stressing here. Embracing change or adaptability is very important. There should not be any emotional attachment to assets,” he advised.

“We live in a VUCA world - Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous - dominated by geopolitical tensions, wars, and natural catastrophes because of climate change, and several such global issues that impacts our day-to-day lives,” he said.

Stating that his was a difficult and arduous journey, he asked the students to develop a good Adversity Quotient (AQ) to face any adversity. “Also, you should come out of your comfort zone. If you don’t, you will stagnate,” he said, drawing parallels with his life, where he had to move to Bengaluru from Rajam at the age of 46, and from there to Delhi at the age of 66 to execute the Delhi airport project,” he said.

“From my experience, I learned a great lesson and the importance of moving out of one’s comfort zone. Else, I would have remained confined in a limited environment, and would never have got the opportunity to create such large national assets,” he said.

Family constitution

In order to avoid squabbles and bickering among the heirs, and to ensure a smooth transition and visibility for different business arms, the GMR group has introduced a family constitution, showing the way to family businesses in the country.

COMMENT NOW