We want to show the world a world-class airport

GM Rao: I think this is the fifth largest terminal in the world. This main terminal that you see is its front that is 0.3 kilometres. Its a nine-storey building.

Shekhar Gupta: So the front is like three football grounds?

GM Rao: Yes,and the metro is coming under that. And you can see that there is a 100-room hotel in the middle of this and there are 78 aerobridges.

Shekhar Gupta: Seventy-eight aerobridgesthats almost more than all aerobridges in all of India right now.

GM Rao: Yes,90 per cent of the passengers have to go through aerobridges. And this is international,domestic and also arrival. Its an integrated terminal.

Shekhar Gupta: Tell us a bit more about how this is different from terminals we may have seen elsewhere. You know,everybodys seen Terminal 5 at Heathrow,weve seen new airports at Bangalore and Hyderabadthe latter you built.

GM Rao: Weve given the best infrastructure,best operational efficiency,best customer service and best IT system,best security. We have also brought in Indian culture to it. If you enter that space,you can feel India.

Shekhar Gupta: When you say a 100-room hotel,is it a hotel accessible by transiting passengers as well as domestic passengers?

GM Rao: Both. There are 60 rooms in the international side,40 in the domestic.

Shekhar Gupta: Tell us a little bit about the degree of difficulty in doing this. Tell us something about the challenges youve faced. Because its very difficult in India even to build a culvert,so to build a brownfield airport,to build a massive new airport while there is a functional airport in a city like Delhi8230;

GM Rao: It was a very big challenge. This project is very important to us,its very important to the country. We want to show the world what a world-class airport we have. The other challenge was that while operating the airport,we had to modernise new terminals,meet the traffic growth and build the new terminal. The main thing is here,as I told you,90 per cent of passengers have to go through the terminal. That was our agreement.

Shekhar Gupta: So 90 per cent have to go through aerobridges.

GM Rao: We have built 70 aerobridges in 5.2 million sq. ft. We had to build it in 40 months and thats difficult. Nowhere in the world has anybody done it. If you take any airport in the world,they have taken 70- 80 months. Another challenge was land. There were lots of encroachments.

Shekhar Gupta: So,what will happen to the new terminal youve just built? Terminal 1D?

GM Rao: That will be a low-cost terminal now. The challenges were huge but they were met only because of my team at GMR,and the deep commitment and support from the Government of India,the Minister for Civil Aviation. Everybody wanted to build a world-class airport.

Shekhar Gupta: Tell us about some specific challenges and how you tackled them.

GM Rao: It will take a day to recount them! One challenge is the court cases.

Shekhar Gupta: I believe there are more than 600 court cases?

GM Rao: There were so many challenges but it worked only because its a real public-private partnership.

Shekhar Gupta: Because the Government of India also set up a group of secretaries,a high-level group.

GM Rao: There is the National Facilitation Committee,headed by the Cabinet Secretary. We used to meet every alternate month and they used to address all our problems.

Shekhar Gupta: In Delhi,you have to deal with DDA,MCD,Delhi government,urban development,Ministry of Civil Aviation,Ministry of Defence,in this case maybe more than one wing8230;Air Force,the Army,unless the Navy also had something here.

GM Rao: Everybody supported us. They said this is a one-time opportunity to build this airport and its a brand for the country. But a big challenge was regarding employees. When I had taken over,there were 3,000 airport authority employees. My obligation was to take 60 per cent of them. Alongside, I recruited people from different countries and trained them as well. The transition of the AA employees was the biggest challenge.

Shekhar Gupta: Tell us about yourself. For somebody who started as a PWD engineer,and got into all kinds of businesses including,I believe,making cotton earbuds,this is a long journey.

GM Rao: My journey can be seen in two parts: before and after the economic reforms. Before the economic reforms,that is after my graduation in engineering,I came to my villageIm from a village called Rajam in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. My father divided our properties. I got Rs 3 lakh,one truck and two acres of land. He also told me to get a job. Then I joined the PWD. But it was not an exciting job. I left it and joined my family business. Mine is a backward district,then it was licence raj. First I started a jute mill,rolling mill,rice mill,oil mill.

Shekhar Gupta: Whatever you could get a licence for.

GM Rao: Brewery,sugar factory. I started 28 industries.

Shekhar Gupta: And cotton earbuds.

GM Rao: Yes,I started 28 industries. In 1985,I had an opportunity to be a director in Vysya Bank. From 85 to 93,I became a major shareholder in Vysya Bank. Then when some executives moved to start a new bank,there was a big vacuum in Vysya Bank.

Shekhar Gupta: And you made your first bunch of money selling your shareholding in Vysya Bank.

GM Rao: It was not like that because I reconstructed the whole bank. I created value for shareholders,brought in the best technology. I cleaned up the whole thing,brought in good shareholders value. Then we figured there was a huge opportunity in infrastructure,we figured that the growth was there. So,we decided to go for infrastructure.

Shekhar Gupta: So who first came up with the idea of infrastructure?

GM Rao: My family members.

Shekhar Gupta: After 28 other businesses,how did you find the 29th?

GM Rao: Since infrastructure was very important for the country,we joined infrastructure. Then I started selling. I sold the brewery to Vijay Mallya,the bank to ING,life insurance to Rajan Raheja. I disinvested.

Shekhar Gupta: Now you are selling sugar to Parry.

GM Rao: That is the last disinvestment. In infrastructure,we first went to the power plant,the Madras power plant. The second one was barge. When I started power,ours was the second IPP in India. And the barge plant is the worlds largest. There are so many challenges in these technology projects. Finally,we entered into airports in 99. At that time,we had just two competitors. We built a world-class airport in Hyderabad and we got Delhi and Mumbai too. Only six people participated in the bidding for Delhi. We were the only ones to qualify for both the Delhi and Mumbai airports. Then the Government of India asked us which airport we wanted to choose. I thought Delhi was a huge opportunity,so I chose it.

Shekhar Gupta: So why Delhi over Mumbai? People would have thought Mumbai is much sexier as an airport.

GM Rao: Today,financially they Mumbai are getting more but in the long-term,there is huge opportunity in Delhi. Here I can build up to100 million passengers. Delhi is the capital of the country. Everybody has to come to Delhi. There is huge potential.

Shekhar Gupta: Youve made all this in one lifetime. As you said,your father only gave you Rs 3 lakh and two acres of land. Do you sometimes think that youve done almost something of the nature that Dhirubhai Ambani achieved?

GM Rao: Dhirubhai Ambani is my guru. I feel God has given me the opportunity to build national assets. All these are national assets,roads and airports. I feel we are the trustees of these national assets.

Shekhar Gupta: Youre one of the few business houses which even has friends among the Left. What is the secret?

GM Rao: That is our relationship,our values,our humility.

Shekhar Gupta: But the other thing you seem to have learnt from the Ambani experience is to try and make sure that trouble doesnt break out in your family. They had trouble between brothers.

GM Rao: What we did for instance in Vysya Bank was that we used non-performing assets. I used to sit at the other end of the table and people from industrial houses used to come for a settlement. Most of the disputes were family disputes. Non-performing assets come because of family disputes.

Shekhar Gupta: You mean borrowers become NPAs because families fight among themselves?

GM Rao: Yes. That was a good learning experience for me. I thought its better that I avoid this. Then I kept on exploring what was happening in European countries,developed countries. There they have a very clear-cut family constitution on how to run a family business for generations. Also,I strongly believe that if there is good family governance,the result will be good corporate governance. Creating a good institution is a process. With that we created a family constitution,we spent good time,all the family members spent almost 600 hours on a good family constitution that spelt out succession,entry to the business for the next generation and so on.

Shekhar Gupta: Because almost all your male family members work in your company or companies now.

GM Rao: Yes,we have four business chairmen. I am the group chairman,we have one business chairman airports,one business chairman energy,one business chairman urban infrastructure. Every three years,they change.

Shekhar Gupta: Tell us about your media and political policy. I know that nobody can give a media interview except you and that too,very rarely.

GM Rao: We decided on this together. Its not that I imposed this on them. I encourage discussion,transparent discussion,not only in my family but also in business. Its a combined decision. As for the political policy,there are rules that nobody can enter politics. If they do,they have to leave the business completely.

Shekhar Gupta: I see. But can they keep their shareholding?

GM Rao: No. They have to completely go out. That is the family constitution. Maybe later if they decide otherwise,that is a separate thing. As of today,that is the policy.

Shekhar Gupta: So,where do you go from here? The airport is done, youre building one in Turkey,you have one in Hyderabad.

GM Rao: Today,there is so much of opportunity globally to build infrastructure. But the ultimate challenge is to create a very good,value-based institution. That is my idea. I want to create an institution that will live longer.

Shekhar Gupta: You keep surprising people. First you surprised people by bidding for such a big asset,it was very audacious. Then building it on time,raising money. And then you start delivering other kinds of surprises like buying the Delhi IPL team.

GM Rao: There is a story there. My son,Kiran,is a fast bowler,he wanted to go for cricket training. So,ten years ago,we thought of doing something in cricket. What IPL thought of,Kiran had thought of ten years ago. We wanted to start indoor cricket because there was no family entertainment then. Somehow,we got busy with Hyderabad and we didnt do anything with cricket.

GM Rao: I maybe the owner of Delhi airport but emotionally it belongs to the people of Delhi. We want to connect with Delhis people emotionally. Delhi loves cricket. I thought it was an easy way to connect to people in Delhi emotionally. Then we bid. God has given an opportunity to us,we won. Also,we thought that when the economy goes up,sports business will go up too.

Shekhar Gupta: So,were you worried when all those controversies broke out on IPL?

GM Rao: I was not worried about anything. We take it as a business model,it will sustain.

Shekhar Gupta: And brand IPL,you think,will survive.

GM Rao: It will survive. People love it,dont they?

Shekhar Gupta: I think its a shrewd choice you made to try and connect with the people of Delhi emotionally,by buying a cricket team in Delhi. What are your own personal ideas of going ahead?

GM Rao: As I told you,we wanted to create the best institution. And if an opportunity comes,we want to create the best infrastructure facilities in the country.

Shekhar Gupta: What,ports,highways?

GM Rao: No. Power,airports and roads. We are into three sectors now. In power,we are operating 800 megawatts now. Another 4,000 megawatts is under construction while another 4,000 megawatts is under development. And then we have three airports. Weve got aerospace park,a lot of developments in the airport itself.

Shekhar Gupta: I can suggest to you a new profession. You should become a professor of family business management. Because youve done such a wonderful job,youve created so many brands. May you create more8230;may these grow and may you keep adding to these. Many congratulations on building such a brilliant terminal in so short a time.

Thank you.

Transcribed by Rajkrishnan Menon