The GMR Group is synonymous with infrastructure, trading, jute mills, breweries, banking, power et al with a special thrust on airports and roads. It has built two of the country’s finest airports and is in the process of building a few more in India and abroad.

But how did the GMR Group rocket to fame?

The 62-year-old Rao, whose family comes from a village about 100 km away from Visakhapatnam, grew up surrounded by business and trading. His family bought jute and grain from farmers and sold it to mills. His family was also into oil and steel rolling mills and later diversified into ferro alloys as well. Rao, who graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1972, learnt the intricacies of jute trading and purchased a distressed jute mill and turned it around.

After dabbling in a couple of jobs, he set out to improve the trading skills his childhood instilled in him. The young Rao clearly did not lack entrepreneurial skills. Not for him the confines of a company job. He went on to become a serial entrepreneur in sugar mills, breweries, banking, BPO, infrastructure, road building, and airport and power plant development.

In the mid-1980s he was inducted into Vysya Bank as a Director. During two subsequent rights offers, when the issue was under pressure, his investments helped him become a major shareholder in the bank. That is when he shifted base to Bangalore.

He shot to fame with his entry into infrastructure. The capital he needed came from the rich returns on his investment in Vysya Bank through deals with ING and sale of the bank’s insurance arm to businessman Rajan Raheja.

The funds provided the cushion to consolidate his business and enter new areas. His first step into power generation was with a 200 MW power plant near Chennai. He was also quick to enter the road sector when the National Highways Authority opened it up for private players.

In 1999, when the Andhra Pradesh Government invited bids for a new airport, he bagged the project, partnering with Malaysia Airport Holding Berhad to build one of the finest greenfield airports in the country.

Alongside, he took up several road and power projects — both gas and coal — with several of them being completed and few others at an advanced stage of execution.

GMR now has a portfolio of 16 power generation assets, of which six are operational and 10 under various stages of implementation and 10 road assets, of which eight are operational and two are under construction.

In the airports sector, besides operating the existing Delhi international airport, the group has also built a brand new integrated terminal, T3, which was commissioned in time for the Commonwealth Games in October 2010.

The enthusiastic young trader who got around on his bicycle four decades ago is jet setting now.

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