"What I Achieve Today, I Must Surpass Tomorrow"

From ₹2 million to ₹250 billion—At an age when many plan for a stable retirement, BVR Mohan Reddy dreamt of creating jobs. He founded Cyient (formerly Infotech Enterprises), a multinational technology company that generated 18,000 high-paying jobs in India and earned $7.7 billion in foreign exchange. Established in 1991, Reddy’s journey of ambition began much earlier, with his entrepreneurial spirit igniting in 1971. EFY’s Yashasvini Razdan delves into the life of BVR Mohan Reddy, tracing the path from his first spark of inspiration to the creation of a thriving enterprise.

- BVR Mohan Reddy

Born to a middle-class police officer, Nagireddy Bodanapu, and Venkata Subba Ratna Kumari Bodanapu, Mohan was the second of four children. In an orderly household, his mother encouraged him to pursue excellence. Fascinated by road rollers, sevenyear-old Mohan was driven towards engineering, and for a long time, the household would echo baby Mohan’s plans of becoming a road roller engineer.

“I was always fascinated by the ‘How?’ so I never gave up on that engineering dream. My elder sister, Uma, took up medicine, so as a rite of passage, as it was in those days, I took up engineering, gladly so!” he reminisces.

Mohan’s mother, a lady of discipline and determination, was highly instrumental in ensuring all her kids achieved success. “I once remember hiding my mathematics mark sheet from her, as I had not studied hard for the test and got an average score. Sharp as she was, nothing escaped her notice. Soon, she figured out what was wrong. That day, I got one of my earliest lessons on the importance of hard work. And a warning, too!” he recollects fondly.

The dreaming of a dream

Being the son of a district superintendent, discipline and good moral values were the cornerstone of Mohan’s character formation, but the constant transfers every three years made it difficult for Mohan to stay in touch with his friends. “Every three years it was a new school, new friends, and the old friends were left behind. This lacuna strengthened the bond between my younger sister, Kishori, and I, despite a significant age gap—she’s six years younger. Uma is just a year older than me, so we were academic competitors,” he recalls.