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Kamma People OCT 2012 Newsletter

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Kammas selected for IAS, IPS and IRS 2012

Malapati Pavan (Rank - 53) selected for IAS, Mandava Harsha Vardhan, S/O Mr.Manndava Vishnuvardhan Rao IPS, IG - Jarkhand (Rank - 165) selected for IPS and Kotapati Vamsi Krishna(Rank - 197) selected for IPS but choosed IRS.

NRI doctor Kodali Siva Rama Krishna Prasad bags two awards
Orthopaedic surgeon Kodali Siva Rama Krishna Prasad received the awards in London recently.

A native of Guntur district and now an orthopaedic surgeon at Prince Charles Hospital, United Kingdom, Kodali Siva Rama Krishna Prasad received the Mahatma Gandhi Samman and Gem of India awards recently.

The awards, he received on behalf of the NRI Welfare Society of India International Friendship Society, were presented in the Global Achievers Conclave in London. All my awards are dedicated to the memory of my parents, said the doctor.

Expressing his happiness on receiving the awards, he said that he feels it a part of his destiny that his life is intertwined between India and United Kingdom. He finished his schooling in George Coronation Higher Secondary School, Thurumella before joining Guntur Medical College in 1966. Later he obtained ECFMG and VQE from Philadelphia and has been settled as an orthopaedic surgeon in United Kingdom.

He has been the recipient of many awards like the Glory Achievers, Rashtriya Pragati, Vidya Ratna Puraskar, Glory of India, Indira Gandhi Seva Ratna, Shining Image of India and many more.

It was indeed a great honour to play a small part in the impending re-emergence of the image of India, said Dr. Kodali Siva Rama Krishna Prasad. It gives me great pleasure in contributing towards the positive image, he said.

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7Seas Entertainment's www.onlinerealgames.com wins 9th International Gold Stevie Business Awards
7Seas Entertainment Ltd (Lingamaneni Maruti Sankar, Chairman and MD) has won the 'International Gold Stevie Business Award 2012' for its free online gaming portal www.onlinerealgames.com under the 'Best Website Design' Category.

Recipients of International Stevie Award trophies were selected from more than 3200 entries received from organizations and individuals in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Notable Stevie Business award winners this year in various other categories include SAP AG. Germany, HSBC U.K, Qualcomm Inc., USA, Samsung Electronics, South Korea etc.

4G Identity Solutions (4Gid) Ranks 4th in Inc. India 500 Rankings for the Fastest Growing Companies
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh: 4G Identity Solutions, a pioneer and global leader in providing large scale identity management solutions, has been ranked as the 4th fastest-growing company by Inc. India, the Indian edition of Inc., the leading US magazine that focuses on entrepreneurship and growth. The listing consists of Indias 500 fastest growing mid-size enterprises.

The rankings are based on the Net Sales CAGR (Continuous Annual Growth Rate) from April 2007 to March 2011 and certain subjective parameters like innovations, leadership, and credibility so on. 4Gid stood 4th in the ranking with a Net Sales CAGR of 395% during the period of evaluation. 4Gid has done significantly well to achieve this ranking in which more than 5000 companies from 40 different industry sectors participated.

Dr. Sreeni Tripuraneni, Chairman & CEO, 4G Identity Solutions speaking on this achievement said, We are honored to be listed 4th amongst the fastest growing 500 companies. This recognition shows that 4Gid has been evolving constantly since inception in the biometric

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identity space and has its foot firmly pressed on the growth pedal to take identity solutions to next level on a global scale.

Pharmexil Awards for Bharat Biotech, Granules and Suven Life Sciences
Hyderabad-based corporates Bharat Biotech, Granules and Suven Life Sciences (All companies belongs to Kammas) have bagged awards for 2011-12 from the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexil).

The winners were presented with the awards at the recent India-Asia-Pacific pharma business meet and annual general body meeting of the council.

Bharat Biotech won the silver patent award in recognition of its contributions in biotech products and research. The company has filed several novel patents.

Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director, said the award recognises the innovation at Bharat Biotech, and the credit goes to the researchers who have worked hard to make it happen.

Suven Life Sciences Ltd received the platinum patent award for securing the most number of product and process patents for the fourth year in a row.

The company secured 96 product patents for their New Chemical Entities and 9 process patents during 2011-12 from several countries including US, Europe, Japan, Australia and Canada. So far, the company has got a total of 541 product patents globally, said Venkat Jasti, CEO.

In another development, Granules India Ltd, has been recognised as Indias most-admired company in exports & bulk drugs at the 5th Annual Pharmaceutical Business Leadership Awards, organised by Pharmaleaders, in association with BSE, Pharmexcil and IBEF.

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Dr.Krishna Kasaraneni among UK's top 50 family physicians

Four doctors of Indian origin have been featured in the list of 50 most influential family physicians in Britain by a magazine, and among them is Dr Krishna Vardhan Kasaraneni from Andhra Pradesh. The Kasaranenis are well-known in Guntur and almost everyone in the family is a physician or a surgeon. Dr Krishnas grandfather, Dr Kasaraneni Sadasiva Rao, was a famous surgeon, a philanthropist and an elected representative to the State Legislative Assembly. I did my initial schooling from Vignan High School in Guntur and moved to the UK when I was 15, says Dr Krishna adding that it was his parents decision to move; he recalls that it was the only time he had seen his grandfather cry. He graduated in medicine from the Leicester Medical School in 2005 and was elected to the chair of the General Physicians Trainees Committee in 2011. As the chairman of the GP Trainees Committee, I represent 10,000 doctors in the UK. I was elected to this position in 2011 and was re-elected last week, he says.

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This is no small responsibility. He says, Being responsible and accountable for that many doctors is by no means an easy task and takes up most of my time. It is a great privilege that comes with immense responsibility. Although medicine was almost like a family profession, Dr Krishna was still given the freedom by his parents to choose whatever he wanted to do. I was given a free rein by my parents. All they ever wanted me to be was good at what I did, he recollects. Though it has been 17 years since he left Guntur, the memories are still fresh. It was a small town and I still remember the day Guntur was declared a city and elected its first mayor, Dr Kolli Sharada. I loved everything about the place, my family, friends, the streets, the vendors, the colours, and so much more, he says. So now after the experience of medicinal politics in the UK and his grandfathers legacy in Guntur, does he think of a political career in the state? Politics in India is way too complex. I believe in unity and equality this doesnt seem to be the flavour of the political scene in India and particularly AP at the moment,he says adding that he, however, still dreams of coming back to India.

IMAPS Announces Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr.Rao R Tummala

At the 44th Annual Symposium on Microelectronics, IMAPS (International Microelectronics And Packaging Society) announces Lifetime Achievement award to Dr.Tummala R Rao the highest honors the Society can bestow. Dr. Tummalas leadership and contributions that are a cornerstone of the microelectronics and electronic packaging industries. Rao is a legend in their community having made

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valuable and extensive contributions to both packaging technologies and the training of future leaders. Dr. Rao Tummala is a Distinguished and an Endowed Chair Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and in Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is also the Founding Director of an NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) called the Microsystems Packaging Research Center (PRC) pioneering the Second Law of Electronics (the first being Moore s Law) by his System-On-Package (SOP) vision. The PRC is currently the largest and most comprehensive micro-systems packaging research, education and industry collaboration Center involving 200 students and 15 faculty from ECE, ME, ChE and MSE departments, and 40 global companies from the U.S., Europe and Asia. He is also an Eminent scholar for the State of Georgia. Dr. Tummala has published over 320 technical papers, holds 71 U.S. patents and inventions, and authored the first modern reference book for microsystems packaging in 1988, and the first undergraduate textbook in 2001. He is a fellow of the IEEE, IMAPS, and the American Ceramic Society; a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and was the President of the IEEE-CPMT Society and IMAPS Society. He is a consultant to many of the Fortune 500 electronics companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia

Riding On White Gold

Nuziveedu has quickly become Indias largest hybrid seed company and it has Bt cotton to thank for its fortunes

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From biotech labs to germplasm banks to seed farms and processing factories, seeds travel a long way before they finally sink into the moist soil tilled by a farmer. One of the best places to discover this nearly invisible fact is Nuziveedus seed factory in the outskirts of Hyderabad, where massive conveyer belts, funnels, mixers and separators operate with a non-stop din under a cavernous shed. For most people, seeds grow just like that, laughs an official, as he demonstrates the sorting and coating of corn seeds with a pinkish layer of pesticide. Seeds, it seems, often pass through as many stages and processes as an FMCG product! Nuziveedu has research facilities sprawled over 650 acres of farmland to test the genetic purity of its hybrid seeds, and the seeds themselves are sourced from 100,000 contract growers as per Nuziveedus specifications. Its these seeds that are processed at its factories before they are sold. Hybrid seeds account for more than 60% of the Rs 10,000 crore total seed market in the country, and they are being preferred by more and more farmers. All of which is helping one man rather nicely. Mandava Prabhakar Rao, Chairman, Nuziveedu Seeds, smiles easily, and why not? An Able (Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises) study has named Nuziveedu the countrys number one seed company. In fact, its numbers are raising eyebrows Nuziveedus annual output of 600,000 quintals of hybrid seeds gets deployed over 89,000 acres and matches what the Rs 700 crore Mahyco manages on 100,000 acres. Whats more, Mahyco has a tie-up with Monsanto, licensors of Bt cotton technology in India, but its Nuziveedu, which is only one of its 30 licensees, that has marched ahead. We just crossed the Rs 1,000 crore revenue mark in FY12, exults Rao, whose flagship business is seeds although his Rs 3,500-crore NSL Group, has interests in infrastructure, power, sugar and textiles. Whats more, Nuziveedu almost doubled its size in a matter of four years, expanding rapidly from Rs 500 crore in FY08 to Rs 1,072 crore in FY12. But the companys COO Ramesh Vishwanathan admits ruefully: Most people who arent farmers havent heard about the largest seed company in India. Time to sow It was Raos father, M Venkatramaiah, a graduate in agriculture, who launched the seeds business in 1973, naming it after his ancestral village of Nuziveedu in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, 300 km from Hyderabad. Rao, who completed his Masters in agriculture from Banaras Hindu University, joined his father in 1982. Their business remained within the Guntur region for some years. The seeds sector in India was highly regulated and dominated by the public sector back then no foreign investment or collaboration was permitted and the National Seed Policy of 1988 was to open up the sector much later. R&D was not a big part of the business in those

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days, Rao recalls. But we developed some cotton hybrids and expanded our area of operations. After the mid-1980s came the diversification into hybrid sorghum, which crop farmers rotated with cotton. Later still, they got into other seeds like castor, maize and bajra, and several vegetables were added recently. Today, Nuziveedu sells in 17 states, including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Orissa and Karnataka. Then came 2002 and a decade of breakneck growth. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), Indias regulatory body for biotech crops, allowed Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB), a 50:50 JV between Mahyco and Monsanto Holdings, to commercialise Bt cotton in the country and sub-license the technology to Indian seed companies. Bt cotton contains a bacterial gene obtained from bacillus thuringiensis, which is genetically introduced into cotton seeds to protect the plants from bollworm, a major cotton pest. Such inbuilt anti-pest mechanisms are said to ensure higher yields. Rao wasnt convinced initially even though competitors like Rasi and Kaveri started using Bt cotton technology for their hybrid seed brands. We took some time before we understood that it was good technology, he says. Two years later, Rao applied and received his licence. Nuziveedu, which released its first Bt cotton hybrid seed in 2005, never looked back. Beady eyed Bt cotton was and remains a highly emotive subject in Indian agriculture. The raging controversies and intense suspicions surrounding it could be the reason why Rao hesitates to accept that Bt cotton has propelled the companys exponential growth. Nuziveedu, like other seed companies, pays Monsanto royalty for its Bt technology. It then infuses the antipest characteristics into locally developed hybrids, which are better suited for cotton farming in India. Rao believes it is this win-win combination that accounts for Nuziveedus share of the Bt cotton market. There are around 30 companies that have a Bt licence, he says. The market share of some of them may not even be 1%, while some of them may have 8-9% of the market. We have over 30%. Raos hesitation to come out unequivocally in favour of Bt cotton, which has clearly brought him plenty of profits, is puzzling. But that does not faze other believers. Developing hybrid varieties has been Nuziveedus strength, observes Vaishali Chopra, senior manager, food and agri-business, at Rabobank. They have been running a breeding programme for a long time and have developed good hybrids of cotton. Bt technology will continue to have a stormy future in India approval for Bt brinjal, only the second GM crop launched after Bt cotton, was suspended soon after it was granted in

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February 2010. Rao chooses to take an apparently tranquil view of things: It is for the government to decide and legislate. We only follow the policy they set. Sale season Raos company may have got the recipe right, but how does it have the farmer community eating out of its hands? You go out with a product, which may not even be on sale right now, but you build it for the next season, says Vishwanathan, adding with a laugh, Its like an election campaign before the sowing season. But doesnt every other seed maker do that? Yes, that is why Nuziveedu runs dedicated assistance teams to guide farmers. Farmers are guided with everything, ranging from seed-bed preparation and fertiliser application to irrigation and harvesting. Its a very instinctive business, Vishwanathan says, before pausing to add, We have to get right which products to bet on and how much capacity to dedicate. Going by market reports, Nuziveedu has been getting its mix consistently right. Mallika, its hybrid-Bt cotton market leader, is a good example Nuziveedu ramped up its production from FY05-FY08 despite being a late entrant to the business, and Mallika now makes up 40% of the companys sales volumes. Vishwanathan says Nuziveedu has also been creating its own markets: A recent example is of Raghav, another of our hybrid-Bt cotton seeds. With it, we went to northern India, where we didnt have any market share, and we ramped up in two years. Buying to lead In its quest for leadership, Nuziveedu has also not shied away from acquisitions. It acquired Yaaganti Seeds in 2008, Pravardhan Seeds in 2009 and Prabhat Agri Biotech in 2011, all Hyderabad-based enterprises. Rao doesnt want to give away the cost of these acquisitions but newspaper reports says the 51% stake in Yaaganti and Pravardhan came for a total of Rs 25 crore. These two companies, which are strong in maize, sunflower and bajra seeds among others, helped Nuziveedu diversify beyond cotton, its mainstay. Prabhat Agri, which is strong in cotton hybrids, was acquired because it made perfect sense to absorb a competitor. Even today, Prabhat has an independent sales turnover of Rs 100 crore, plus 10 regional offices, more than 200 distributors, and over 20,000 retailers across 10 Indian states. Rao says all of it helped Nuziveedu expand its germplasm bank, product offerings, customer base as well as the sales and distribution network. In fact, a robust distribution infrastructure is a must-have for a seed company. We have higher distribution and reach than any other company in India now, claims Vishwanathan. Nuziveedu has over 3,000 distributors and 60,000 retailers who are supported by eight regional offices that claim to serve 10 million farmers.

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Arvind Kapur, CEO of Rasi Seeds, a Rs 550-crore Tamil Nadu-based company that has a 14% share in hybrid seeds, feels Nuziveedu is also able to beat Mahyco because the Monsanto partner is geographically more dispersed and present in several crops. He adds, Thats why Mahyco doesnt have leadership in any one crop. Besides, Monsanto, which also operates as an individual seed company in India, has other objectives its a seed technology company first, so it would rather earn royalty than compete with the likes of Nuziveedu and Rasi. If Monsanto starts competing aggressively against local players, they will use some other technology and not Monsantos, points out Rabobanks Chopra. So they let them expand and earn more through royalty. The profit margin for seed companies like Nuziveedu is said to be range of 18-20% despite the royalty burden. Soft trouble Nuziveedus dependence on central and southern India, key cotton growing areas, has a downside to it. 80% of its seed turnover comes from cotton and this has made the company way too reliant on one crop. Vishwanathan admits that there is no possibility of a dramatic expansion as far as the acreage of cotton is concerned. The challenge for the company is to get more yield and productivity out of the same amount of land. However, cotton yields seem to have hit a ceiling at 500 kg/hectare. Nuziveedu has other worries as well. The seed brand is barely recognisable outside its central-southern belt. Whats that? ask a group of farmers at Fazilka, Punjab. I had to make calls to various seed agents to find out about the company, says Vikram Ahuja, an agri-entrepreneur. Vishwanathan, however, is hardly deterred and says there is space to grow where they are lagging. We are weak in some pockets of eastern and northern India in fact, we are in the sub-20% range even in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, he says without hesitation. Geographical expansion into new markets is also the answer to Nuziveedus dead-end with yields. In 2010, the company also entered international seed markets, exporting maize, sunflower and vegetable seeds to countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Kenya, Ghana, Vietnam and Turkey. The focus is on SAARC countries and sub-Saharan Africa, which offer good potential for the seeds sector, but Nuziveedus export revenues are not substantial as of now. The international markets surely wont be easy: competition in cotton is more localised but MNCs like Dupont and Monsanto will compete with Nuziveedu in other crops and regions that are as yet unfamiliar to the company.

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The focus is also on moving away from cotton, We have strong products in maize and paddy, Rao says. Sale of vegetable seeds, where the company is focused on chillies, tomatoes and okra, are also seeing a 30-40% growth rate. Rao hopes that, with diversification, Nuziveedu will be among the first three seed companies in all these crops. In any case, Rao needs more capital to expand into newer crops and regions. There have been reports that he is planning a Rs 900-crore IPO but right now hes playing his cards close to his chest. We are considering options but there is nothing to announce as of now, he says guardedly. Not that funding has been thin on the ground or there is a lack of suitors. Blackstone Capital invested Rs 250 crore in Nuziveedu in August 2010. We were impressed with their capability across the whole value chain, and Prabhakar Raos understanding of the seeds business, explains Richard Saldanha, vice-chairman and executive director, Blackstone. Raos mind, though, is simply fixed on the farmer. He says firmly, The Indian farmer has realised that there is a significantly improved return when he buys quality seeds. That insight should surely help Nuziveedu sustain its growth in the times ahead.

Elgi Equipments buys Italian company

Elgi Equipments, the Coimbatore-based manufacturer of air-compressors and automobile service station equipment, has strengthened its international presence by acquiring Rotair S.p.A, an Italian compressor company. Elgi informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday that it had acquired 100 per cent stake in Rotair through its subsidiary in Italy, Elgi Compressors Italy S.r.I. Jairam Varadaraj, Managing Director of Elgi, has said in a release that with the acquisition, Elgi will have access to new technologies and product lines and also gain a foothold in markets it is not present. Rotair is known for its innovation, and is into design, manufacture and distribution of compressors and allied products for the construction and industrial sectors. Its products are sold in over 60 countries and its annual turnover is 15 million euro. The promoters of Rotair would continue in the management and its existing management team would run the day-to-day operations, he added.

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Giovanni Donadio, President of the Italian company, has said in the release that Elgi is the ideal partner to take Rotair to the next level of growth and development. Elgi Equipments, which registered Rs.793 crore turnover in 2011-12, has manufacturing facilities in India, China and France. In 2010, it acquired France-based Belair, which is into assembly, sale and service of industrial compressors, piping, fittings and accessories.

Satish Jasti nominated for the Wayne State board

Lotus Bank founder says he can help improve university Satish Jasti, founder of Novi's own, Lotus Bank, has been nominated to run for the Board of Governors at Wayne State University. Last weekend at the state's Republican Party Convention in Grand Rapids, Novi City Councilman David Staudt nominated Jasti as one of the candidates to run for two openings on the Wayne State board. Staudt thinks Jasti would bring a business mindset and different perspective to the university's ruling body.

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The Republican Party welcomes and encourages candidates of all ethnicities, said Staudt, who is also treasurer of the Oakland County Republican Party. As an individual of Indian heritage, Satish brings diversity to the position and party. The position will be up for vote on the statewide ballot Nov. 6. Jasti, along with another Republican candidate, will be running against two Democrats. For Jasti, this is an exciting opportunity because he is a 1984 graduate of Wayne State and he wants the chance to help his alma mater improve. I'm really excited to be nominated, and I believe Wayne State needs more Republican representation, he said. It is time to elect the right people with appropriate backgrounds in offering solutions, raising money, controlling costs - people that have the knowledge and the mettle to get things done. Otherwise, we (the taxpayers) will all be paying for it in the long run from our pocketbooks. His main motivation in running is student debt, which he said comes from increasing tuition rates. According to Jasti, the aggregate student debt is at $1 trillion and its expected to grow as less support is given by state governments. The universities have gotten into the habit of increasing tuition revenue to replace the support from the states, Jasti said. We need to manage our institutions with fewer state dollars without sacrificing quality or all-important academic rankings. According to Jasti, in 2001, 63 percent of Wayne State's General Fund revenue came from the state. In 2012, that percentage dropped to 32 percent and tuition now makes up 60 percent of the revenue. Another area he wants to see improved is the decreasting graduation rate which he believes the board has a responsibility to increase. The lower the graduation rates, the lower the federal research money coming to the university, said Jasti. If we don't improve the graduation rates, the reputation of the university also takes a blow -- thus affecting attracting talented professors and research scientists. A West Bloomfield resident, Jasti has been married to his wife, Sree, for 25 years and they have two daughters, ages 22 and 15. He founded Lotus in 2005 and left there in 2010 for a

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position at the Bank of Ann Arbor's Plymouth office, where he is currently the vice president and senior loan officer.

Telugu TV Channels own and run by Kammas

1) ETV - Cherukuri Ramoji Rao 2) Gemini - Akkineni Manohara Prasad (Founder and stake holder) 3) MAA - (MAA - Music, MAA Movies) Nimmagadda Prasad, Akkineni Nagarjuna (Majority stake holders) 4) TV9 - Velicheti Ravi Prakash 5) ETV2 - Cherukuri Ramoji Rao 6) TV 5 - Bollineni Rajagopala Naidu 7) NTV - Tummala Narendranath chowdary 8) Studio N - Jr.NTR (Narne Srinivasa Rao) 9) Mahaa TV - Inaganti Venkatarao 10) I News - Tummala Narendra and Sabbineni Surendra 11) A TV - Sunkara Anil 12) Bhakti - Tummala Narendranath Chowdary 13) Vanitha - Tummala Narendranath Chowdary 14) Channel 4 - NT Chowdary (Nageli Thirupalappa Chowdary) 15) CVR News - Chalasani Venkateswara Rao 16) CVR Health - Chalasani Venkateswara Rao (coming soon) 17) Om TV - Chalasani Venkateswara Rao (coming soon) 18) Captain TV (Tamil) - Lingutla Kannaiah Sudhish (LK Sudhish)

CVR Telugu news channel started

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Another news channel is added in telugu channels list. Image Hospitals Chairman, President - Ameerpet Kamma Sangham Mr.Chalasani Venkateswra Rao is launching another two channels soon. Their first venture CVR News is launched recently.Apart from CVR News Image Broadcasting India Pvt Ltd is going to launch another 2 TV channels in Telugu. CVR Health and Om TV would also be launched in a couple of months. According to sources, Image Broadcasting has applied for another channel based on music. CVR News channel started test signal last month.