How Sri City's Ravindra Sannareddy turned scrubland into an industrial hub

Lunch with BS: Sri City has now grown to employ over 65,000 people. Sannareddy dream is to take it past 100,000 by its 25th year

It almost feels like Chennai has quietly extended its industrial embrace across the Andhra Pradesh border to Sri City. The 55-km drive to this manufacturing hub, in the Tirupati district, is lined with warehouses and factory sheds, their insignia ranging from global conglomerates to rising Indian giants — all strategically leveraging their proximity to Chennai Port. 

The four-lane highway buzzes with container traffic, its rhythm set by South India’s manufacturing metronome. At the end of it all, nestled among dry scrubland and slow-growing trees, is Sri City — a dream built on stubborn optimism, spiritual roots, and strategic foresight, one that transformed an obscure village into a thriving industrial town. 

“From metro trains to toothpaste, chocolate to air conditioners — even pillows — everything is made here,” says an employee at the gate with a matter-of-fact grin. 

That isn’t marketing bravado. With over 230 companies operating from Sri City, the zone has attracted investments upwards of $5 billion and has facilitated exports exceeding $4 billion. Among the firms that have a presence here are Alstom, which makes rolling stock for Metro trains, consumer durables companies like Blue Star, Panasonic, Daikin, and Havells, fast-moving consumer goods players such as Mondelez India Foods, Tata Foods, Colgate-Palmolive, and Kellogg’s, besides Sundram Fasteners, Thermax, JSW, and so on.  

At the guest house canteen inside this 10,000-acre multiproduct special economic zone (SEZ), Ravindra Sannareddy, co-founder and managing director of Sri City, is already waiting. The man behind this manufacturing hub has a warm handshake and an even warmer welcome as he leads me into a dining area where stainless steel thalis are being polished and arranged. 

As lunch is prepared, Sannareddy, 62, offers a quick orientation to the transformation that began here 17 years ago. 

The name “Sri City” wasn’t picked off a branding deck. “Sri” is a sacred prefix in this part of the country, and the region is flanked by four temple towns: Tirupati to the west, Sriharikota to the east, Srikalahasti to the north, and Sriperumbudur to the south. “We’re at the centre of these. That spiritual geography mattered,” says Sannareddy, adding that “Sri” also stands for Satyavedu Reserve Infracity — the official name of the SEZ. 

“Two are modern temples: Sriharikota, for our space technology, and Sriperumbudur, a global investment hub,” he adds.  Though known for the likes of Nokia and automobile companies, Sriperumbudur is also the birthplace of Sri Ramanuja, one of the most prominent Hindu Vaishnava saints. 

The conversation takes a philosophical turn as he explains his attachment to Sanatana Dharma and the Vedas. “People often talk about the Rig, Yajur, and Sama Vedas, but the Atharva Veda — about everyday life, healing, and engineering — often gets overlooked,” he says. It’s not often that an industrialist quotes scriptures over starters, but with Sannareddy, faith and infrastructure sit comfortably at the same table. 

Lunch is announced. A modest-looking buffet is revealed to be a feast: Vegetarian biryani, steamed rice, bisi bele bath, roti, bhindi fry, egg fry, chicken curry, rasam, dal fry, curd rice, and of course, prawn masala — in addition to starters. Sannareddy speaks of how he relishes prawns and Nethili fry (small fish). His state, Andhra Pradesh, is after all the number one exporter of prawns. “You should also try the bisi bele bath,” he says. 

If his lunch preferences are rooted in his coastal heritage, so too is his life story.  

Born in Aravapalem village in the erstwhile Nellore district, Sannareddy completed his schooling from the town of Sullurupeta and dreamed — like many small-town boys — of becoming a Public Works Department (PWD) engineer. He studied civil 

engineering at the Regional Engineering College in Trichy before moving to the US for higher studies.  

“I was the first from my village to go to the US,” he says, still sounding surprised. Two master’s degrees followed — one from Utah State University and another from Johns Hopkins.

 

His academic journey was meant to lead to a PhD, but family responsibilities intervened, and he had to start working. It was around this time, in 1994, that he founded Megasoft Consultants Inc, which focused on payroll and IT staffing solutions.  

By 1998, with offshoring becoming the next big thing, he launched Megasoft India, and returned to the country in 2000  — right in the middle of the dot-com boom.

 

“Then came September 11,” he says, pausing just as a ladle of bisi bele bath is served on my plate. 

The aftermath of 9/11 had a ripple effect on Indian IT companies. Clients became conservative, projects were frozen, and a wave of introspection followed. For Sannareddy, it was a moment to pivot. India’s SEZ Act was being shaped at the time, and he saw an opportunity not just to start a business — but to build a city. 

“I thought, why not create a global industrial zone near my hometown?” he says. In 2008–09, along with entrepreneur Srini Raju and institutional funds, Sri City took shape. Its early days were anything but smooth. The region was still seen as underdeveloped. And the global financial crisis, triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers — “just as we were ready to expand” — made investors nervous. 

Sannareddy recounts how the first investor, VRV Group, came on board almost by accident. While waiting at the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation office to meet a bureaucrat, he bumped into some officials of VRV Group, who were planning to set up a manufacturing unit in Visakhapatnam. He made his pitch right there — in the corridor. Then in Chennai. Then again at Sri City. “I didn’t even quote a price. I just wanted them to come,” he recalls. It worked. 

VRV was acquired by Chart Industries in 2018, and the Sri City facility has since made a mark in cryogenic equipment. In 2024, it shipped three 125,000-gallon tanks to a US space research firm — a leap from that corridor conversation. Today, it is a leader in cryogenic equipment and air-cooled heat exchangers, particularly in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemical sectors. 

Family, naturally, enters the picture too. Sannareddy’s wife, Mamatha, and three daughters have been his anchors. “Two are in the US. My youngest heads the CSR wing here,” he says, visibly proud. 

Sri City has now grown to employ over 65,000 people. His dream is to take it past 100,000 by its 25th year. Education and healthcare have grown in parallel — there are now universities, hospitals, schools. “There was nothing here before. Not even a junior college,” he recalls. 

But why don’t more IT firms come here? “IT needs an urban ecosystem — malls, apartments, schools, restaurants. That’s why they cluster in cities like Bengaluru or Hyderabad,” he explains. Yet, that could change. Plans are underway to build malls, hotels, and a retirement community. “I was born here. I want to live here and die here,” he says, matter-of-factly. 

International investment has been key to Sri City’s success. Japan, in particular, has shown keen interest, with 33 companies operating at Sri City. Kobelco was the first Japanese firm to come here, and Sannareddy expects this number to increase to 50 over the next few years. “We have some shared affinities — Buddhism, rice, and Rajinikanth,” he laughs as bowls of rice and rasam are passed around. 

On Sri City being seen as a rival to Tamil Nadu’s industrial hubs, he is quick to clarify. “We’re not competing with Sriperumbudur. We complement each other. India needs multiple manufacturing zones.” 

As lunch winds down, I ask if he’s considered telling this story in a book. “Someone suggested that recently,” he says. What would the title be? 

He doesn’t pause. “Made in Sri City for the World.” 

It’s not just a line. It’s the arc of a local boy who dared to build something global in the land he came from — and stayed to grow.