Nrupender Rao returned to India from the US in the mid-1980s. What had precipitated his return then was a request from his father, J.V.N. Rao, who figured his son could thrive in a fast-changing India.

Indeed, Nrupender Rao began his entrepreneurial journey just a few years before Liberalization - he set up a cold-rolled steel complex at Isnapur, Hyderabad, that could produce 30,000 tonnes of steel a year in 1987-88. Pennar Group today has interests in sectors from general engineering to automobiles and infrastructure.

In a book about Rao's entrepreneurial journey, journalist Pavan Lall, who also contributes to Moneycontrol, writes about the genesis and growth of the business by Rao. Excerpted below is a section from the book, from a chapter titled 'There are no Holy Cows in America', that offer insights into Rao's sense of adventure, capitalizing on opportunities and his spirit of frugality:

Hoping he could talk his father out of having to return, Rao wrote the minister a letter and explained that there was a real and serious shortage of jobs in the subcontinent for engineers like him with advanced degrees, and even if there were jobs, it was unlikely they would offer substantial compensation compared to what he had gotten used to.

The truth was, of course, that the notion of attending a doctoral programme at either Columbia or Stanford University, where he had already gotten admission was starting to gnaw away at him.