How a damsel in distress triggered a business idea

Vijay Gummadi and Venu Donepudi are cousins, friends, married to sisters and partners in a business. Both were working in the automobile industry in the US and, one fine day, decided that they should go back to India and start a venture in the automotive sector, may be a multi-brand car-service chain. On their trips home, they noticed the growing number of vehicles on the roads with only the dealer network available to take care of these cars.

“Apart from that, there is a story that you should read on our Web site,” says Venu. “It is about the love for a distressed damsel and the automobile, and how it got us into this industry,” adds Vijay, quite helpfully. “A triangular love story,” pipes in Venu. What is it about, you ask them. “You should read it,” replies Venu, during a recent interaction in Delhi.

THE MUSE

Now cut to Carz’s Web site: Vijay and Venu were on a visit to India in 2007. Both were movie buffs. And both had gone to watch the Hollywood movieTransformers on the first day of its release in India. Dinner after the second show, they were driving out of the basement car park when they saw a woman waving at them to stop. The duo stopped and found that she was having problems starting her car and could not find help anywhere. Being auto-industry professionals and knowing a thing or two about checking a car, Vijay and Venu jumped out, fixed the problem and sent the woman on her way. She — Vedika — thanked them, said they should keep in touch and suggested, as she was driving away, that they should build something out of their expertise. Vijay and Venu still argue about whom Vedika wanted to keep in touch with. But one thing they are not arguing about is their business. Carz — or Vahan Motors Pvt Ltd, as the company is known — was set up in Hyderabad. Vijay, 37, has a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and a master’s in manufacturing systems, and is Founder and CEO. Venu, 38, has a bachelor’s in electronics and telecommunications and is Founder and Managing Director.

NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE

The two studied the market for servicing cars, including in smaller towns. They even hired a professional market-research agency, whose findings validated their own conclusion that there was scope for an independent multi-brand car-service chain. Carz was formed in March 2008, with about Rs 1.5 crore of funds, mainly theirs and some from family and friends. Indo-US Venture Partners, a venture-capital firm, invested about Rs 22.5 crore ($5 million) in Carz. There are 16 Carz service centres now, all in the South, and this number will increase to 20 by January. They hope to add 30 centres next year.

They have positioned Carz as a neighbourhood service centre, where customers can even watch their vehicles being serviced. Everything is explained upfront to the customers.

Each centre, according to Vijay, will be spread over 10,000 sq. ft and requires Rs 1.2 crore to set up. They will have 12-16 bays and will be able to carry out all kinds of repairs, including accident repair. The service centres will have a paint booth too.

What about getting genuine spares for the vehicles, especially since automobile manufacturers do not sell spares outside their network? “There is a whole network of aftermarket parts manufacturers worldwide,” says Vijay. “We source a large part of the components from these reputed global manufacturers,” he adds. Besides, all the vehicles made in India are part of global platforms for the manufacturers; which means they are sold in other countries, from where too parts can be bought. There are importers who source parts and supply them for the aftermarket.

Each centre handles about 25 cars a day, and Carz has a 75,000-strong customer base. It has about 400 employees. The challenge as they grow, say Vijay and Venu, is in maintaining customer satisfaction levels.

Comments

Kamma Cine Heroes

1) N.T.Rama Rao 2) Akkineni Nageswara Rao 3) Gattamaneni Krishna 4) Sobhan Babu (Uppu Sobhana Chalapathi Rao) 5) Gummadi Venkatwsara Rao 6) Maganti Murali Mohan 7) Manchu Mohan Babu 8) Kongara Jaggayya 9) Giri babu (Yerra Seshagiri Rao) 10) Sridhar Surapaneni 11) Madala Ranga rao 12) Nandamuri Bala Krishna 13) SaiChand Tripuraneni 14) Akkineni Nagarjuna 15) Daggubati Venkatesh 16) Gadde Rajendra Prasad 17) Raja Sekhar (Kasukurthi) 18) Daggubati Raja 19) Bhagya Raj 20) Nandamuri Hari Krishna 21) Veeramachineni Jagapathi Babu 22) Meka Srikanth 23) Vadde Naveen 24) Tottempudi Venu 25) Gattamaneni Mahesh Babu 26) Junior. N.T.R 27) Sivaji Sontineni 28) Nandamuri Taraka Ratna 29) Nandamuri Kalyanaram 30) Yarlagadda Sumanth 31) Tottempudi Gopi Chand 32) Manchu Vishnu Vardhan 33) Manchu Manoj 34) Edara Naresh 35) Edara Aryan Rajesh 36) Ram Pothineni 37) Myneni Sarvanand 38) Daggubati Rana 39) Akkineni Naga Chaitanya 40) Nani (Ghanta Naveen Kumar) 41)

List of 30 Kamma Billionaires and rankings

The IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021 shows that India has more than 1,000 individuals who have a net worth of ₹ 1,000 crore or more across 119 cities. The cumulative wealth in the country has gone up by 51 per cent, while the average wealth has also increased by 25 per cent, the report by Hurun India said. 30 Kamma business and industrialists finds place in the list from AP, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. 14. Murali Divi Rs76,000 crores Divis Laboratories 179. Venkateswarlu Jasti 9,600 crores Suven Pharma 190. Veeraiah Chowdary Nannapaneni 9,100 crores NATCO Laboratories 209. Chava Satyanarayana 8,400 crores Laurus Labs 264. Satya Nadella 6,200 crores Microsoft 368. Mandava PrabhakaraRao 4,300 crores Nuziveedu seeds 377. Ella KrishnaMurthy 4,100 crores Bharat Biotech 384. Doppalapudi Bhaktavatsala Rao 4000 crores Privi Speciality Chemicals 398. Galla Ramachandra Naidu 3,900 crores Amara Raja Batteries 398. Chinta VisveswaraRao 3,900 crores Navayuga Engineering 409. Ma

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 - Then sold to Sony) 4) TV9 - Velicheti Ravi Prakash, minority stake holder holds the grip 5) ETV2 - Cherukuri Ramoji Rao 6) TV 5 - Bollineni Rajagopala Naidu 7) NTV - Tummala Narendranath chowdary 8) Studio N - Narne Srinivasa Rao, sold to SivaramPrasad Vasireddi 9) Mahaa TV - Inaganti Venkatarao now taken over by Sujana Chowdary 10) I News - Tummala Narendra and Sabbineni Surendra (sold to Kiran Kumar Reddy) 11) ABN Andhra Jyothi - Radhakrishna Vemuri 12) Bhakti - Tummala Narendranath Chowdary 13) Vanitha - Tummala Narendranath Chowdary 14) ATV - Anil Sunkara 15) CVR News - Chalasani Venkateswara Rao 16) CVR Health - Chalasani Venkateswara Rao 17) Om TV - Chalasani Venkateswara Rao 18) YTV - Yalamanchili Venkateswara Rao (Aired from Vizag) 19) Express TV - Chi

Richest man in Andhra Pradesh

It is neither Reddy nor Raju. It is only Kamma .. According to the Forbes magazine, Lagadapati Madhusudhan Rao ( 41 ) is the richest person in Andhra Prades h stands at No- 33 among the richest persons in India . Also he is the youngest in the list, there is no Andhrite in the list. Lagadapati Madhusudhan Rao is the Chairman - Lanco Infratech Ltd , the Hyderabad-based diversified group. His net worth is 1.9 billion dollars., ahead of Vijay Mallya, N.R. Narayana Murthy. Divi Murali of Divi's Lab is narrowly missed the berth in the list. Murali, best of luck next year..

A road named after Veerasamy Naidu in Singapore

Veerasamy Road - Little India/ Singapore Veerasamy Road was renamed twice in its history; it was originally called Inche Lane, and was renamed Jalan Tambah in 1910. In 1927, the road was renamed again as Veerasamy Road, in honour of Dr N. Veerasamy Naidu (1865-1926), one of Singapore’s first Indian doctors and a leader in the local Indian community. Dr N Veerasamy Naidu was born in 1864. He was the son of Narayanasamy Naidu and Ramanuja Ammal. He learned Tamil from the age of four from his grandfather, Kuppusamy Naidu. He studied English at the Raffles School in Singapore and first worked at the lawyer’s office of Mr Cook. Unsatisfied in his job and drawn to the study of medicinal herbs, he decided to pursue an education in medical science and eventually worked in a hospital owned by Govindasamy Naidu. He set up his own clinic called Indian Dispensary in Rochor Road and derived effective scientific and traditional treatments for a variety of new diseases. He was the President

Kamma MLA and MPs (Andhra Pradesh)

Kamma MLAs in AP Assembly: 1. Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu Vizag TDP 2. Pendurthi Venkatesh Rajanagaram TDP 3. Vegulla Jogeswara Rao Mandapeta TDP 4. Burugupalli Sesha Rao Nidadavolu TDP 5. Chintamaneni Prabhakar Denduluru TDP 6. Kodali Venkateswara Rao Gudivada TDP 7. Dasari Balavardhana Rao Gannavaram TDP 8. Yalamanchili Ravi Vijayawada PRP 9. Devineni Umamaeshwara Rao Mylavaram TDP 10. Nadendla Manohar Tenali CONG 11. Dhulipala Narendra Ponnuru TDP 12. Kommalapati Sridhar Pedakurapadu TDP 13. Pattipati Pulla Rao Chilakaluripet TDP 14. Yaraparineni Srinivasa Rao Gurajala TDP 15. Gonuguntla VSR Anjaneyulu Vinukonda TDP 16. Gottipati Ravi Kumar Addanki CONG 17. Daggubati Venkateswara Rao Parchur CONG 18. Kurugundla Ramakrishna Venkatagiri TDP 19. Galla Aruna Kumari Chandragiri CONG 20. Nara Chandrababau Naidu Kuppam TDP 21. Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu Nagari TDP 22. Payyavula Kesav Uravakonda TDP 23. Paritala Sunitha Raptadu TDP 24. Konka Meenakshi

Kamma Movie Directors

List of Kamma Movie Ditrectors 1) Gudavalli Ramabrahmam 2) Akkineni Lakshmi Vara Prasad (LV Prasad) 3) Kovelamudi Bapayya 4) Veeramachineni Madhusudhana Rao 5) Kovelamudi S.Prakasa Rao 6) Kolli Pratyagatma 7) G.Sambasiva Rao 8) Tammareddy Krishnamurthy 9) Mannava Balayya 10) Tatineni Prakasa Rao 11) Tatineni Rama Rao 12) Tatineni Prasad 13) Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao 14) Gutta Ramineedu 15) Kolli Hemambaradhara Rao 16) Uppalapati Visveswara Rao 17) Tripuraneni Maharadhi 18) Tripuraneni Gopichand 19) Tottempudi Krishna 20) Madala Ranga Rao 21) Siva Nageswara Rao 22) Uppalapati Narayana Rao 23) P.Sarat 24) A.Mohan Gandhi 25) Bezawada Gopal 26) T.Kranthi Kumar 27) Maganti Vijaya Bapineedu 28) Tammareddy Bharadwaj 29) Akkineni Kutumba Rao 30) K.Vasu 31) Edara VV Satyanarayana 32) Muppalaneni Siva 33) Yalamanchili VS Chowdary 34) Theja Jasti 35) Sreenu Vytla 36) Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli 37) Vemulapalli Srikanth 38) AS Ravikumar Chowdary 39) Kod

List of Kamma Cine Heroes (Updated)

List of Kamma Movie stars: 1) Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao 2) Akkineni Nageswara Rao 3) Gattamaneni Krishna 4) Sobhan Babu (Uppu Sobhana Chalapathi Rao) 5) Gummadi Venkatwsara Rao 6) Maganti Murali Mohan 7) Manchu Mohan Babu 8) Kongara Jaggayya 9) Giri babu (Yerra Seshagiri Rao) 10) Sridhar Surapaneni (Mutyalamuggu fame) 11) Madala Ranga rao 12) Nandamuri Bala Krishna 13) SaiChand Tripuraneni 14) Akkineni Nagarjuna 15) Daggubati Venkatesh 16) Gadde Rajendra Prasad 17) Raja Sekhar (Kasukurthi) 18) Daggubati Raja 19) Bhagya Raj 20) Nandamuri Hari Krishna 21) Veeramachineni Jagapathi Babu 22) Meka Srikanth 23) Vadde Naveen 24) Tottempudi Venu 25) Gattamaneni Mahesh Babu 26) Junior. N.T.R 27) Sivaji Sontineni 28) Nandamuri Taraka Ratna 29) Nandamuri Kalyanaram 30) Yarlagadda Sumanth 31) Tottempudi Gopi Chand 32) Manchu Vishnu Vardhan 33) Manchu Manoj 34) Edara Naresh 35) Edara Aryan Rajesh 36) Ram Pothineni 37) Myneni Sarvanand 38) Daggubati Rana 39

List of Kamma MLAs elected to The Tamilnadu Assembly 2021

Thalapathy 1) Kadambur Raju (AIADMK) Kovilpatti 2) Dr.A R Raguraman (MDMK) Sattur 3) A R R Seenivasan (DMK) Virudhunagar 4) G Thalapathy (DMK) Madurai - West 5) P R G Arun Kumar (AIADMK) Coimbatore 6) M K Mohan (DMK) Anna Nagar 7) P K Sekar Babu (DMK) Chennai - Harbour 8) A C Vilvanathan (DMK) Ambur 9) A P Nanda Kumar (DMK) Anaikattu

Challapalli Fort - History of Yarlagadda Zamindars

Challapalli is a village in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Challapalli mandal of Machilipatnam revenue division. The Rajah of Challapalli, Srimanthu Raja Yaralagadda Ankineedu Prasad Bahadur Garu built this Palace in the early 18th centaury. Then onwards Challapalli became the capital for the Devarkota Estate and the town developed around the palace. It remains as a great example of Andhra architecture to this very day. . The last crowned monarch of Challapalli was Srimanthu Raja Yaralagadda Shivaram Prasad Bahadur Garu (1906-76). As of 2012, the Royal family members no longer reside in the fort. Yarlagadda Rajas of Challapali fort and Zamindari that ruled this area from 15 century now the kingdom has gone due to land cease act that was kept by the Indian Government but their greatness was in the words of the people in that area . The Raja of Challapalli (Devarakota) in Krishna district was among the richest of the Rajahs and h

Kammas World

Search This Blog