Interview with Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao, interviewed by Geoffrey Jones, Boston, Massachusetts
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2016
Place of publication: Boston, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 40
Subjects: Interviews; Banks and banking; Business; History; Businessmen; Call centers; Computer service industry; Consumer credit; Foreign Corporations; Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Housing; International business enterprises; Real estate business; Social responsibility of business; Trade regulation; Politics and government; Commerce; Citibank, N.A.; Mphasis Ltd; Value and Budget Housing Corporation
Description: Jerry Rao is the current chairman of the Value and Budget Housing Corporation and is the founder and former CEO of MphasiS Corporation. In this interview, Rao discusses his career trajectory, beginning with Citibank in 1984. He discusses the challenges of opening a foreign bank in India and how the foreign exchange shortage in Indian helped propel Citibank's success in India. He eventually moved to California to head Citibank's technology department. Rao fully transitioned to the technology industry in 1997 when he and his partners developed a software for banks to provide their services online, MphasiS. He discusses the challenges of starting a technology company in California during a time in which most computer programmers were in India. He also details his decision to sell the company in 2007, foreseeing the industry becoming concentrated in large corporations.

In 2009, Rao founded two companies--Value and Budget Housing Corporation and a mortgage finance company--after realizing India's housing industry had no large, reliable company to build affordable housing. He discusses the challenges of India's many regulations and required construction permits and how the company manages to stay profitable despite the slow building process. He also details how he believes a company can best embrace social responsibility through employee volunteer time, and how and why he came to publish a book of poetry.
Notes: Title from PDF title page (viewed on September 19, 2017).

Access restrictions to transcript may apply. Contact Baker Library Historical Collections for more information.

Access to video file restricted to holders of a valid Harvard ID.

Video interview conducted in English on 2016 June 1 in Boston by Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School through the sponsorship of the Business History Initiative, Harvard Business School.

Interview with Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao, interviewed by Geoffrey Jones, Boston, Massachusetts, June 1, 2016, Creating Emerging Markets Oral History Collection, Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.

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Forms part of: Creating Emerging Markets oral history collection, 2006-