Prodigy CEO

ICE PEOPLE

When he was a child, his teachers never dreamt that he would one day become the CEO of a big organisation. G V Kumar was often involved in brawls.

But the chief executive of the Chennai-based Rs 90-odd crore Megasoft, was bright. Why else would the Godrej group have promoted him as the CEO of a group company at the tender age of 29? In 1996, he became the CEO of Godrej Telecom, the youngest CEO in the group.

An engineering graduate from the Regional Engineering College, Bhopal, G V (as he's better known) did a post-graduate degree in management from Xavier's Institute of Management, Bhuvaneswar. He joined the Godrej group in 1990 as a management trainee.

A decade later, he co-founded Xius India, a telecom solutions developing company with Srini Raju of i-Labs fame.

"I was supposed to join one of the world's top five consulting companies as head of their telecom division in Singapore, but before that I met Srini in Hyderabad," he reminisces.

"Our conviction that an Indian company could succeed in exporting products to the global market drove us to set up Xius," he explains. In January 2004, Xius merged with the Chennai-based Megasoft and G V became the CEO of the merged entity.

G V's sons, Sohail (7) and Arman (3), are music buffs like him. Every Saturday, G V's house in Hyderabad becomes a 'ghazal mahal' with the stereo playing Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh CDs. Scotch (Chivas Regal) and white wine are de rigeur during the recitals.

G V is also an avid reader who puts in at least an hour a day reading history, astronomy and management books. This CEO never tires of learning.