The GMR Group Chairman, GM Rao has pledged his irrevocable commitment to create an endowment worth USD 340 million [INR 1540 Crores], in favour of the GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, for charitable activities to serve the needs of the under-served sections of society.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rao said, “From my initial years in business, I have always believed that we have a responsibility to give back to the society in which we thrive and we owe our success to.”
This endowment is equivalent to the entire portion of Mr. G M Rao’s personal share of the entire business, which makes it very special.
Speaking on the sidelines of signing of the legal documents pertaining to the family constitution, which was agreed to by the family members in 2007, Mr. Rao said “it has been a long journey and a most satisfying one to see one’s vision of building an institution in perpetuity coming to fruition. Personally, it is even more satisfying than winning the bid for making India’s most iconic project, Delhi T3. I would like to thank all those who have made it possible and deem it as God’s greatness who has given my family and me this opportunity to give back to society.” This benevolent act underlines what is already enshrined in GMR Group’s stated Values & Beliefs for nearly a decade
The GMR Varalakshmi Foundation (a Section 25 not-for-profit Company), is an integral part of the GMR Group, and is a professionally run organization with a presence in 22 locations, India and abroad.
Mr. G M Rao hoped that the Foundation will continue with its focus on spreading education and vocational training to provide sustainable livelihood to the people. He hopes that the Foundation would continue to channelize youth towards entrepreneurship; to take up participatory, holistic development initiatives and to strengthen communities and their institutions. Concluding his speech at the ceremony, Mr. G.M.Rao said that this was also in consonance with the Group’s business philosophy of keeping Nation Building before any other consideration.
About GMR Group
GMR Group is a Bangalore headquartered global infrastructure major with interests in Airports, Energy, Highways and Urban Infrastructure. The Company has successfully employed the public-private partnership model to build a portfolio of high quality assets. The Company has 14 power projects of which 3 are operational (808 MW) and 11 projects (8448 MW) are under various stages of implementation. It has 9 road projects, of which 6 are operational (421 km) and 3 are under construction (309 km). In the Airports sector, the group operates 4 airports located at Delhi and Hyderabad in India, Istanbul in Turkey and Malé in the Maldives. Additionally, the Group is committed to social development initiatives and executes these through its Corporate Social Responsibility arm, the GMR Varalakshmi Foundation (GMRVF).
For further information about the GMR Group, visit www.gmrgroup.in
