B. V. Rao Biography 
B. V. Rao was an Indian agriculturalist and poultry farmer from Hyderabad, Telangana. He is considered as the father of poultry farming in India. He was the founder chairman of the National Egg Coordination Committee of India, and his company directly employed around 5000 employees by 1996. Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990. His name was also induced in WPSA International Hall of Fame in 2004; the same year he passed away too.
His full name is Banda Vasudev Rao. He was born in the year 1935 in Chanchalguda, Hyderabad, present-day Telangana. During his early years he has worked in different sectors, assigning different job roles. Telephone operator, Railway police staff and a personal secretary to a state minister – his roles were many, before he joined Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Rajendranagar and did a training program in dairy and poultry farming. He received training from an American teacher, Moore.
He started off with his new business soon after training. His first business venture was with 500 birds entrusted by Moore for tending. Later in 1970, he started his own venture in a 7-acre plot by selling his wife’s ornaments. Over the years it grew into a big business firm, V H Group, an Indian conglomerate primarily comprising companies related to the poultry industry, including processed food, animal vaccines, human and animal pharmaceutical and healthcare products. It currently owns branches in Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Singapore, Vietnam and Brazil with a total asset of 1.5 billion US dollars.
In the 1980s, when the price of eggs went down, he assembled farmers and started National Egg Coordination Committee in 1982 and remained its founder chairman. Dr B.V. Rao Institute of Poultry Management and Technology is an educational institution started by him. Currently the business is run by his children.
Published: January 30, 2019
Updated: January 30, 2019
