B. V. Rao

Banda Vasudev Raowas an Indian agriculturalist and poultry farmer, considered by many as the father of poultry farming in India. He was the founder chairman of the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) and was a 2004 inductee of the International Poultry Hall of Fame of the World Poultry Science Association. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990.When he died, the combined fortune of his family was $325 million(1300 crore).His company directly employed around 5000 employees by 1996.

B. V. Rao was born on 6 November,1935 at Chanchalguda, in Hyderabad, in the undivided south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (presently in Telangana).

At a very young age, Rao was married to Uttara Devi, a lady of his own community and similar background, in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian manner. The marriage, which was entirely harmonious and lasted all their lives, was blessed with three children, being a daughter, Anuradha Desai, and two sons, Venkatesh Rao and Balaji Rao. Uttaradevi was a devoted wife in the traditional Indian mould, and she supported her husband in everything that he did or did not do, regardless of what it was. Her death in middle age was a great blow to the whole family. All three of their children have followed their father into the family business. The eldest child, Anuradha Desai, who is married to Jitendra Desai, presently heads the Group as its non-executive chairperson.

Rao did not have a good education, and therefore he had to earn a living by working at low level jobs where he was frustrated. Uttara Devi provided moral support to her husband during these early days, when he struggled to work as a telephone operator, lower grade railway employee and then deputed to be assistant to a VIP. She was supportive of her husband's decision to resign from unwanted and low-paying jobs and see what he could make of his life as an entrepreneur, using the few acres of farmland which he had inherited. Here also, the beginning was very humble indeed, with a few hundred chickens, but Rao was blessed with a supportive and undemanding wife.

After working in many capacities such as a telephone operator, railway police staff and as a personal secretary to a state minister, Rao enrolled for a short-length course at Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Rajendranagar. He did this in order to see what he could make of his life as an independent farmer, so that he may not need to work at the low-level jobs in which he was stuck due to not having an education. He successfully complete a training program in dairy and poultry farming where he had the opportunity to learn under an American teacher, Moore. His first business venture was with 500 birds entrusted by Moore for tending and, soon, Rao started his own venture in a 7-acre plot, for which the funds were raised by selling his wife's jewelry. The business, started in 1970, grew over the years to the present V H Group, a US$2 billion conglomerate with interests in poultry, meat, pharmaceuticals, cattle feed, sports and has presence in India, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Singapore, Vietnam and Brazil. They hold a 99.9 percent stake in the EFL Championship team, Blackburn Rovers F.C., since 2010.

When the price of eggs went down in the early 1980s, Rao gathered farmers together and founded the National Egg Coordination Committee in 1982 and was its founder chairman. He was also associated with the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA) and headed its India chapter from 1993 to 1996. He was one of the key figures in the organization of the World Poultry Conference in New Delhi in 1996. He also founded a higher education institution, Dr B.V. Rao Institute of Poultry Management and Technology, which conducts higher courses in the subject. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 1990. The World Poultry Science Association inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2004 but he died before the investiture ceremony could take place.