The original trendsetter
From the first five-star hotel to the first multi-storeyed apartments, J. Bhaskar Rao has been responsible for many firsts in Hyderabad
During his journey from a lawyer to tax consultant, hotelier, realtor and educationist, Joginpally Bhaskar Rao has proven to be a man of grit and conviction.
A firm believer of Swami Vivekananda’s saying “expansion is life, contraction is death”, the 72-year old Rao loves venturing into different fields and has the hunger for being number one in each of these fields.
Rao also has many “firsts” to his credit. In the 1970s he was the first to establish a five-star hotel in the city and the largest revolving restaurant in Asia, Bhaskara Palace. It functioned for 15 years before being converted into Care Hospitals in Banjara Hills in late 1990s. He is now planning to construct a new Bhaskara Palace next to the old one. This will be opened by December 31 this year.
Despite being born in a well-to-do family, Rao, popularly known as JB, has come up the hard way. His father J. Narsinga Rao was a “police patel” (village head) and his mother Mangamma was a homemaker.
“I had the privilege of doing my graduation from the prestigious Nizam College. My classmates and contemporaries included industrialist Dr T. Subbarami Reddy and Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy. My association with TSR is over 50 year old,” recollects Rao.
An ardent devotee of Lord Balaji, Rao has been visiting Tirupati every New Year’s Day for the
I plan to set up another medical college on the city’s outskirts. There is a lot of requirement for qualified doctors in the state
J.BHASKAR RAO
past 47 years. He is also a devotee of Lord Hanuman and has been visiting the Hanuman Temple in Khairatabad every Tuesday for the past 30 years.
Blessed with two sons and a daughter, Rao is ably supported by his family in his endeavour of providing world-class education.
His elder son J.V. Krishna Rao is the secretary of JB Educational Institutions and younger son J. Vamsidhar Rao is the secretary of Joginpally BR Educational Institutions. His daughter Dr B. Deepika is the advisor for Bhaskar Medical College and Bhaskar General Hospital.
Way back in 1973, Rao started the trend of multistoreyed buildings in the city. “Mathrusri Apartments, Mahathi Residential Apartments and JB Centrally Air-conditioned Residential Apartments built by me were the first of their kinds in the city those days. Those buildings fuelled the growth of apartments in the city later,” he says.
Rao is currently focusing on expanding his chain of professional colleges under the brand “JB Group”.
More than 10,000 students are currently on the rolls and the group is providing employment to about 2,500 teaching and non-teaching staff.
“My plan is to set up another medical college on the city’s outskirts. There is a requirement for qualified doctors in the state. The new college is expected to be operational from next year,” Rao adds.