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When Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao began his entrepreneurial journey in 1978, trading in jute in Rajam village in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, with a corpus of ₹3 lakh, the business landscape in India was bleak. The country was emerging from years of political turmoil, industrial stagnation, poor farm output, and a troubled labour environment. It required audacity for anyone to go into business, given the fetters of red tape and the licence raj.
But today, that audacity, and four decades of inspired leadership, has paid off for GMR — as he is better known. The eponymous business group that he heads is now a diversified ‘global enterprise’ of over $10 billion (about ₹66,000 crore) with interests from roads to power to airports.
GMR’s spectacular success is a shining metaphor for the transformation of India from virtually the ‘bullock cart’ era to the age of gleaming airports – which, by the way, his company built.
On that journey, Rao went from jute trading to acquiring a sick jute mill, and then on to a brewery and a sugar mill, before foraying into the banking sector with Vysya Bank. But today he is best known for an accidental venture into the infrastructure business.
Continuous diversification has been something of a business mantra, but over the decades, he has sold off 27 businesses, consolidating his acumen in the infrastructure business.
On Thursday, the birth anniversary of ICFAI founder NJ Yasaswy, Rao shared his experience and spoke on Creating an Institution in Perpetuity . And with the rich experience that he commands, he said Indian entrepreneurs need to focus on “enhancing the life of organisations and building global companies”.
Family feuds“Today in our country, family disputes are… destroying economic wealth,” Rao noted. In western countries, some of the biggest multinational companies are successful family-owned enterprises that contribute to economic development, he said.
In India, however, the story is vastly different. Over 75 per cent of Indian businesses are family-run, but barely a few survive beyond a generation, Rao pointed out. “This is a great loss to the nation and the economy. While Indians are tremendous entrepreneurs, we have not been able to create successful multinational companies,” Rao feels.
“We have drafted a vision to make the GMR Group an institution in perpetuity.”
Focussing on family governance, the GMR Group has created a legally binding family constitution to guide its future direction.
Undoubtedly the best family business in India, he says, is the Tata Group. Ratan Tata transformed it into a world-class MNC, notes Rao with admiration.
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