Hyderabad: Mr. Mullapudi Lokeswara Rao, is the main promoter and Managing Director of Lokesh Machines Limited, manufacturers of CNC Machines, Special Purpose Machines and Auto components. Customers for the two-decade-old Lokesh Machines Limited include automobile giants like Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, Escorts, Kinetic Engineering, L&T John Deere, Mahindra & Mahindra and TELCO. They lap up Lokesh's Special Purpose & CNC Machines used in the manufacture of automobile parts.

Lokesh Machines, which clocked a turnover of Rs.500 million in the previous fiscal, is all set to grow into a Rs.1 billion company this year.

Mr. Lokeswara Rao had gone through many trials and tribulations before he could savour success. Obtaining a diploma in mechanical engineering from Tanuku polytechnic, Mr. Lokeswara Rao served Hindustan Machine Tools, Hyderabad, for seven years as a trainee, junior supervisor and supervisor before he quit the job to emerge as an entrepreneur in his own right. With just Rs.25000 in hand and a bank loan of Rs.2 lakh, he started a unit in 1974 to supply components to HMT in the technocrats' industrial estate promoted by the Andhra Pradesh Small Industries Development Corporation.

Sporadic job works - often punctuated with sudden cancellations and unending losses convinced Mr. Lokeswara Rao that to survive in industry he should manufacture a product. He promoted Lokesh Machines Limited in 1984 to produce Special Purpose Machines for the auto industry. The giant automobile manufacturers preferred giants in the machine tool industry raising a big entry barrier to a small technocrat. Gate-crashing into the big auto league appeared impossible.

Mr. Lokeswara Rao would not lose heart because he knew that his high quality machines and his technically strong team would one day attract big customers. The tide finally turned in his favour when satisfied customers began to repeat orders in the early 1990's. Three years down the line, there was a rough patch in the machine tool industry all over the world. Lokesh weathered the recession to enjoy the boom that followed in 1996. Since then, there has been no looking back for Lokesh. It has been registering a 15-20 per cent growth year-on-year. Its success saw financial institutions ranging from the APIDC, IDBI and the CDC to ICICI Venture Capital and Gujarat Venture Capital coming forward to assist it.

The company has joined the elite group of One German and four Japanese Companies that produce high-speed machines and the driving force behind the great achievement is Mr.Lokeshwar Rao who has taken the company on par with International Machine Tools Companies.

What have been his sweetest moments? The day he made the first machine, the day he exported a sophisticated machine to Japan and the day he received an award from the All India Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association.

What does he look forward to? Further developing Lokesh into a centre of excellence in India's machine tool industry. His track record shows that he accomplishes whatever he dreams.

February' 2005