Meet man whose company operates 3 airports in India, has Rs 27477 crore net worth, he is...

Many Indian businessmen have built a massive business empire from scratch. One such person is GM Rao, an Indian billionaire who owns GMR Group. He is one of the richest people in India. According to Forbes, he has a real-time net worth of USD 3.2 billion (Rs 27477 crore). He is an airport tycoon and controls the listed airport operator GMR Airports Infrastructure. The group operates three airports in India -- Delhi, Hyderabad and Goa -- and two airports in the Philippines and Indonesia. The GMR Group opened the GMR School of Aviation in Hyderabad in partnership with European aircraft maker Airbus in January 2024. 

Rao, 74, hails from a small town in Andhra Pradesh. Before India’s economic liberalisation, he explored every business opportunity that came his way. Starting with a single jute mill in 1978, he has ventured into 28 different businesses as a serial entrepreneur. After the economic liberalisation in 1994, his moves became entirely strategy-driven. He has divested all the unrelated businesses and primarily focused on the core infrastructure sector resulting in GMR Group.

Moreover, the group has received Rs 6,300 crore investment from Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund ADIA. The funds will help in reducing the debt of promoter group entity GMR Enterprises Pvt Ltd (GEPL). In October last year, the group had announced securing Rs 6,300 crore debt funding from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

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