Varalakshmi Grandhi is the spouse of Sri Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao- Group Chairman of GMR Group. Mrs. Grandhi Varalakshmi is the life partner who immensely contributed to the success of Sri Rao for almost the last 5 decades. She has been instrumental by inspiring the family in setting up of the GMRV Foundation - the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the Group and is a Director on its Board since.

A deeply religious and spiritual human being, Mrs. Varalakshmi donated without reservation to many community, social and religious services and institutions across the country including wherever GMR Group has its presence.

She was the Director in GMR Bannergatta Properties Limited, GMR Enterprises Private Limited, GMR Sports Limited. She is also on the Board of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation.

She has constantly been a pillar of strength for the better-half Sri GM Rao, giving him freedom and space to concentrate on his business and achieve his passionate dreams; many a times sacrificing simple pleasures that normal couples enjoy. She is one person who completely understands GCM’s passion for building national assets and that was the reason she readily agreed to move out of Rajam first to Hyderabad and then to Bangalore and now to Delhi to accommodate the business priorities.

In fact, both at Delhi and Bangalore, where the language and people were completely new for her, she adjusted herself effortlessly. This is always acknowledged by her life partner Sri GM Rao, as her support was crucial at the time when he had to take charge of Vysya Bank which was in dire states and later when the move to New Delhi was imperative for future growth of business.

She is the Chairman of the Family Council, the apex Policy Framing body of the Family and is one of the chief architects of the design of Family Constitution, the one-of-its-kind in the Indian Family Business history.

Mr. Srinivas Bommidala hails from a business family of over nine decades of experience in tobacco exports. After graduating, he joined the family business in 1982 and diversified into aerated water bottling plants, while growing the tobacco business globally further.

Mr. Srinivas Bommidala, a Group Director, and son-in-law of Mr. G M Rao, is one of the first directors of the Company. Over the years, since 1995, he has led the bidding, development and operation of all business verticals of the Group, including Airports, Energy, Urban Infra, Sports.

Being a visionary leader, he has led many first-of-its-kind initiatives for the Group, including setting up one of the first PPP power project in India in 1995, heading the transition of Delhi International Airport (largest PPP airport project) as first Managing Director in 2006, spearheading the Group’s foray in the sports franchise as well as incubation of the IT & Digital transformation initiatives, across the organization. Under his leadership, the concept of Aerotropolis was conceived and took shape in Delhi and Hyderabad Aero cities. Since then, these have become a global destination for business, commerce and leisure. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the Chairman of Airports business, during which period, GMR emerged amongst the top five airport developers in the world. He also delivered a substantial growth pipeline for the airports sector, by winning projects in India and overseas viz., Goa (Mopa), Cebu (Philippines), Crete (Greece) and Medan (Indonesia).

He continues to lead the Group’s International Airports business in South East Asia and Greece, and the transformation of the Energy portfolio.

Ramadevi Bommidala, wife of Mr. Srinivas Bommidala, Chairman - Airports, is the Director of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation and GMR Bannerghatta Properties Private Ltd.

On completion of B.Sc in Home Science from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Mrs. Ramadevi served as the Director - Administration at GMR Power Corporation, Chennai, between1998-2004.

In 2004, she joined GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, the Group’s non-profit wing in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, as Director. Mrs. Ramadevi also serves as the Whole Time Director of GMR Bannerghatta Properties Private Ltd. since 2007.

Ramadevi, currently serves as one of the Directors of Parampara Family Business Institute.

Mr. G B S Raju, a Group Director, is the elder son of Mr. G.M. Rao and has been on the Company’s Board since 1999.

He began his career as the Managing Director of GMR Energy Limited and was responsible for setting up the 220 MW barge-mounted power plant. During his subsequent stint as Chairman of Energy Sector during 2012-17, multiple power generation plants including transmission projects were implemented at various development phases, with an aggregate capacity of about 7500 MW.

Mr. Raju as Group CFO, successfully led the Group through GMR Infrastructure’s maiden IPO in 2006 and certain largest QIPs & Private Equity investments in the years 2007, 2010 & 2011 amounting to approx. US$3 Billion in the Energy and Airport sectors of the Group.

He is presently the Chairman of the Airport sector and in addition leads GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, the CSR wing of GMR Group and spearheads Information Technology & Digitalization across the Group. With his far sightedness and entrepreneurial skills, Mr. Raju has been a key player in leading GMR’s foray into the Airport sector and in developing the Hyderabad, Delhi, Istanbul and the Bhogapuram Greenfield Airport. The Group was guided by his strategic vision in developing international business and building projects including the Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, Istanbul and a power project in Jurong Island, Singapore.

Smitha Raju Grandhi is a graduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering from University of Madras and also holds an MS degree in Software Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology(Chicago) U.S.A.

She has recently completed her Diploma in “Understanding the child with learning difficulty”. Currently she is teaching at “Brindavan Educational Trust” on a voluntary basis. She is a voracious reader and is pursuing her MA in Special Education.

Smitha is the wife of Mr. GBS Raju, Chairman-Energy Business, GMR Group.

Mrs. Smitha Raju held the position of Whole-time Director in GMR Estates Pvt. Ltd. (GEPL) from 30th March 2007 to 1st August 2010 and subsequently she continued as a Non-Executive Director of the Company until 16th December 2013.

She was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of GMR Bannerghatta Properties Private Limited (GBPL) on 9th December 2005. Subsequently on 1st August 2010 she was re-designated as a Whole-time Director of GBPL and she continues to hold the same position as on date.

She is also one of the Directors on the Board of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation – the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the Group. The foundation is actively engaged in the areas of Education, Health, Hygiene and Sanitation, Community Development and Empowerment.

She is very passionate about community services and has initiated and participated in many GMRV Foundation activities across the country. She is keen to dynamically involve in activities that make a difference to society through education.

She is currently the Secretary for the Family Council, the apex policy framing body of the GMR Family. She held this position earlier as well for over 4 years. She is one of the chief architects of the design of Family Constitution, the one-of-its-kind in the Indian family Business history.

Smitha, currently serves as one of the Directors of Parampara Family Business Institute.

Mr. Kiran Kumar Grandhi, a Graduate in Commerce, is the younger son of Mr. G M Rao and has been on the Company’s Board since 1999.

He has been instrumental in winning several successful infrastructure bids for the Group under Public Private Partnership route with the Central and State Governments in sectors like Airports, Highways, etc. He led the GMR Group’s successful bids for Hyderabad, Delhi, Istanbul, Male Airports as well as the construction efforts for completion of Terminal 3 of Delhi Airport in a record time.

As Chairman of Urban Infrastructure & Highways, he managed a portfolio of ~1,200 kms of Highways across 10 projects. He is also instrumental in GMR Group’s foray into development of sports vertical through acquisition and management of the Delhi Daredevils IPL team.

Currently, he is overseeing Group Finance and Corporate Strategic Planning functions of the Group, in addition to leading the Sports business of the Group.

Ragini Kiran Grandhi is the Director on the Board of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation – Corporate Social Responsibility wing of GMR Group. She holds the Secretary’s chair for the Non – Business Family Forum for the last 7 years. This forum is a unique feature of the GMR family and has been initiated to aid its family governance. She has been instrumental in developing and the functioning of this Forum which meets once in a quarter.

A patron of fine arts and passionate artist herself, she is currently engaged in encouraging and preserving the dying art of silver filigree work in Karimnagar, Telangana State, India. She is passionate about the field of education and she is also member of GMR Chinmaya Vidyalaya Governing Board. Community involvement runs deep in the GMR family and she is committed to this cause and is passionate about the many community Service initiatives of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation.

Growing up in a family business herself, she saw regularly the value of proactive women, and understood how vitally important they were to the success of both the family and the business. She strongly believes that women in family owned Business have a very pivotal role to play and strives to create possibilities to balance work, family and community commitments for herself and her family.

A keenly spiritual person she also has many artistic endeavors and enjoys creating paintings, experimenting with variety of mediums. She is an active member of the Entrepreneur’ Organization (EO), Hyderabad and Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Bangalore. She likes reading, has an artistic bent of mind and works with different mediums like bonsai, terrarium, miniature landscapes etc. She enjoys traveling and shows a keen interest in learning about different cultures.

Ragini, currently serves as one of the Directors of Parampara Family Business Institute.

Mr. B V N Rao, a Group Director, has been associated with the Group since 1989 and is one of the first Directors of the Company. He is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from Andhra University.

During his tenure with Andhra Bank, before joining the Group, he gained extensive experience in the Banking Sector with specific focus in Industrial Finance. He was also on the board of Vysya Bank (now known as ING Vysya Bank Limited) for eight years. He has held various senior responsibilities in the GMR Group. He is also a Director on the GMR Group Holding Board.

Currently as a Business Chairman, he heads Transportation & Urban Infrastructure covering Transportation, SEZ & the EPC business. Under his leadership, the Group is developing two Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) projects. These projects are of national importance intended to ensure speedy and efficient transportation of cargo.

Sudhakar Rao is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer of the 1973 batch. Being a part of the State Government in 2000, he held various assignments, including Chairman & Managing Director of the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), Principal Secretary, Finance; Principal Secretary, Home; Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Karnataka; Development Commissioner and finally, Chief Secretary of Karnataka, from which post he retired from Government service on 30.09.2009.

Mr. Rao was conferred the Kannada Rajyotsava Award, under the public service category by the Government of Karnataka on November 1, 2010.

A passionate entrepreneur, Mahesh is a qualified CA, CMA and ACS. He started his career as an investment banker with SBI Capital Markets.
He was associated with the Outlook group for 17 years and headed it for more than 10 years. Mahesh believes that the demographic dividend India seeks can turn into a nightmare if youth are not shown the right direction to maximize their capabilities. CAREERS360 is the result of his deep understanding of student issues, and the information gaps that need to be filled to help students take an informed career decisions.

Som Mittal is the Former President and Chairman of NASSCOM. He is Alumnus of IIT, Kanpur and IIM, Ahmedabad. He is on several Boards of Corporation, Education Institutions, and Social Sector. Was a member of Prime Minister’s E-Governance Council. Has 40 years of corporate experience in engineering IIT industry with Escorts, Denso, Wipro, and Hewlett Packard. Was awarded Distinguished Alumni Award of IIT Kanpur.

Shri KV Chowdary is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service . He is a Former Central Vigilance Commissioner. He was also the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes. He is a Post graduate in Mathematics from IIT Chennai. He held several executive positions in the Income Tax Department . He is known for his competence, integrity and humane qualities. He has extensive experience and knowledge in Taxation, Finance, Accounts, Banking, Company Law, other general laws, Corporate Governance and matters relating to Non Profit Organisations and Charitable Institutions.

Post retirement as CVC, he is currently an Independent Director in various listed Companies, namely,Reliance Industries Ltd, Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd, Divi's Laboratories Ltd, CCL Products ( India) Ltd and Anant Raj Ltd. He is an Independent Director of unlisted Companies such as, Reliance International Ltd ( Registered in Dubai), Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd, My Home Industries Ltd, and Eugia Pharmacy Specialities Ltd. He is also an Independent Director and Chairman of Genome Foundation, a Section 8 company. He is an Independent Trustee of Akshay Patra Foundation. He is associated with several other Charitable entities and NPOs. He is also the Chairman / Member of the Audit committees, CSR committees, Human Resources, and Nomination and Remuneration committees, Risk Management committee, Stakeholders Relationship committees of some these companies. Earlier he was a member/ on the advisory boards of several international and national organisations.