Dr. V. Venkata Rao

Faculty Details

Dr. V. Venkata Rao

PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology

BIO

Dr. V. Venkata Rao obtained his PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering (1981) and an MS in Operations Research (1979), both from the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. He also holds an M.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering, with a specialisation in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (1974), and a BE in Mechanical Engineering from the Government College of Engineering, Kakinada (now Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University), awarded in 1971.

Dr. Rao served as a faculty member in the Information Systems Area at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) from 1981 to 2014, having earlier worked as a Systems Analyst in the Institute’s Computer Centre between 1974 and 1976. During the summer of 1997, he was a Faculty Fellow at Infosys Technologies, Bengaluru.

Following his retirement from IIMA in 2014, Dr. Rao served as an Adjunct Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur until the end of 2023. He was the Programme Director for the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF), an initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, from 2022 to 2024 at IIM Udaipur. He also coordinated the Management Capacity Enhancement Programmes for senior leadership at engineering institutions under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP), jointly supported by the World Bank and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

In recent years, Dr. Rao has taught at the Indian Institutes of Management Amritsar, Sambalpur and Nagpur, the Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Goa Institute of Management, and the Adani Institute for Infrastructure Management.

His teaching and research interests include operations research, operations management, and computer-based information systems. Over the course of his career, Dr. Rao has undertaken numerous research and consultancy projects for government agencies as well as public and private sector organisations. His published work spans production planning for multi-stage manufacturing systems, optimisation algorithms for graph theory, decision support systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP), e-governance, and the modelling of railway operations.

Research & Publications

Venkata Rao, V., “Policy Alternatives for the Fellow Programme in Management”, in Vijay Sherry Chand and T.V. Rao (ed.), Nurturing Institutional Excellence: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Macmillan Publishers India Private Limited, 2011, 265-276.
Venkata Rao, V., “Issues in the Design of Training Programs on e-Governance,” Vikalpa, 33(4) (October–December 2008), 88-91.
Vohra, Neharika; and Venkata Rao, V., “Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in Conversation with Neharika Vohra and V. Venkata Rao”, Vikalpa, 34(1) (January–March 2009), 61-68.
Venkata Rao, V., “Process Re-Design and Computerization”, Invited Address, Fourth IEEE All India Student Congress (AISC-2007), Sep 28–30, 2007, DA-IICT, Gandhinagar.
Venkata Rao, V., “Knowledge Management in Indian Software Export Industry”, Conference on Knowledge Management, IIPS, Devi Ahalya University, Indore, October 2002 (Keynote Address).
“Evaluation of Gyandoot Project”, report of a research study sponsored by the World Bank, co-authors: Prof. T.P. Rama Rao and research staff of the Centre for Electronic Governance, IIMA.
“Evaluation of Check Post Computerization Project”, report of a research study sponsored by the World Bank, co-authors: Prof. T.P. Rama Rao and research staff of the Centre for Electronic Governance, IIMA.
Chavan, Vinaysingh; and Venkata Rao, V., “Revenue Management for Online Stores: Dual Channel Selling and Dynamic Pricing”, Third National Conference on Management Science and Practice (MSP 2008), Ahmedabad, March 22–24, 2008.
Kumar, S., V. V. Rao, and D. Tirupati (2006), “Multiple Products, Multiple Constraints, Single Period Inventory Problem: A Hierarchical Solution Procedure”, International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management, Volume 12, Number 1, March 2006, pp. 1-12.
Kumar, S., and V. V. Rao (2005), “Evaluating Lateral Transshipment Policy in a Two-Echelon Inventory System”, Journal of Comparative International Management (accepted for publication).
Was invited to participate in “Brainstorming Workshop for Building Institutional Partnerships for CIO Training” conducted by National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG), Hyderabad, during 27-28 December 2005. Prof. Venkata Rao made a presentation on “Experience in Designing and Conducting APCIO Programme” and also worked as a member of the working group on curriculum development committee.
Kumar, Satyendra; Rao, V. Venkata; Tirupati, Devanath, “Vehicle Allocation and Bin Packing”, Paper accepted for presentation at the 47th National Meeting of Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS), 16-18 May 2005, Halifax, Canada.
Ray, Subhajyoti; Rao, V. Venkata, “Assessing the Impact of e-Government Project on Citizen Service Quality: An Analytic Hierarchy Approach”, published in the proceedings of the conference “ECEG 2004: 4th European Conference on e-Government”, held at Dublin, Ireland, 17-18 June 2004.
Rao, T.P. Rama; Rao, V. Venkata; Bhatnagar, S.C.; and Satyanarayana, J., “e-Governance Assessment Frameworks”, research report sponsored by the Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India, New Delhi.
Rao, V. Venkata; Ray, Subhajyoti, “Civic Centers of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Gujarat”, chapter in the research report “Evaluation of e-Governance Projects”, sponsored by The Asia Foundation, USA, May 2004.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Sridharan, R., “Minimum Rooted Not-Necessarily-Spanning Arborescence Problem”, Networks, 39(2), 2002, 77-87.
Rao, Venkata V., “Desired: A Phased Implementation of ERP”, Case Diagnosis of the case “Erhardt + Leimer India Limited: Strategic Transformation through ERP”, Vikalpa, Vol. 26, No. 1, Jan-Mar 2001, pp. 110-114.
Panelist at “Open House on Y2K” organised by Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 11 August 1999, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad.
“Y2K Conversion Projects: What a Manager Should Be Aware Of”, Vikalpa, Vol. 23, No. 2, April-June 1998, pp. 3-13.
“ERP: Lessons from Experience”, invited paper at the Southern Regional Conference of the Computer Society of India, Vijayawada, February 6-7, 1998.
“Integrating Decision Support and Knowledge-based Systems: Some Examples”, keynote address at the National Seminar on Knowledge-based Systems, Computer Society of India, Vallabh Vidya Nagar, June 3-4, 1998.
“Primal and Lagrangian Heuristics for the Minimum Weight Rooted Arborescence Problem”, presented at the annual conference of the Operational Research Society of India, IIT Bombay, December 1996.
“Management Gaming through Computer Networks”, invited presentation at the Seminar on Technologies for Educational Networking, IGNOU, New Delhi, November 1-2, 1995.
“Developing a Training Programme on Shipping Management”, presented at the 31st National Maritime Day Seminar, Bombay, April 4, 1994.
Manikutty, S.; Raghuram, G.; Venkata Rao, V.; and Roy, T.A., “A Computer Based Crew Management System for Freight Trains in South Central Railway”, in Srinivasan S. (ed.), Information Technology and Management, Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1992.
Raghuram, G.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Computer Based Crew Scheduling System for Freight Trains in Indian Railways”, Rail Transport, Vol. 1, No. 4, Oct-Dec 1992.
Maslekar, N.V.; Rama Rao, T.P.; and Venkata Rao, V., “The Role of IT in the Corporate Sector: The Case of HMT”, workshop on Information Technology for National Development, IIM Ahmedabad, March 1993.
Manikutty, S.; Raghuram, G.; and Venkata Rao, V., “Simulation Models to Evaluate Railway Operating Policies”, International Conference Operational Research for Development (ICORD-92), IIM Ahmedabad.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Sreedharan, R., “The Minimum Weight Rooted Arborescence Problem: Weights on Arcs Case”, IIMA Working Paper No. 1030, May 1992.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Raghuram, G., “A Decision Support System for Improving Railway Line Capacity”, Public Enterprise, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 1991.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Syam Prasad, C., “Gantt Chart Colouring”, Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Computer Society of India, New Delhi, 1991.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Syam Prasad, C., “Interactive Gantt Charting”, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Computer Society of India, Bangalore, 1989.
Venkata Rao, V., “Can We Justify Research on Optimization Methods?: The Case of Optimization in Multi-Stage Production Systems”, National Seminar organized by the Computer Society of India, Vallabh Vidyanagar, 1990.
Venkata Rao, V., “Computers in Management Education”, invited paper, Western Regional Conference-89, Computer Society of India.
McGinnis, L.F.; and Venkata Rao, V., “Cost Parametric Families of Multi-Stage Lot Sizing Problems: Some Structural Results”, Conference on Multi-Echelon Inventory Systems, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, June 1987.
Venkata Rao, V., “Flexible Access to Models and Data Through Decision Support Systems”, Vikalpa, Vol. 12, No. 1, Jan-Mar 1987.
Venkata Rao, V.; and McGinnis, L.F., “Optimal Lot Sizing in Multiperiod Production Systems”, Institute of Industrial Engineers Transactions (USA), Vol. 15, No. 1, March 1983.
McGinnis, L.F.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Decomposition Method for Optimal Lot Sizing in Acyclic Production Systems”, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1983.
Venkata Rao, V.; and McGinnis, L.F., “The Minimum Weight Rooted Arborescence Problem: A Branch and Bound Solution”, IIMA Working Paper Series, No. 514, June 1984.
“Quantity Discount Pricing Model: An Exact Formulation and Analysis”, IIMA Working Paper, 1987.
Venkata Rao, V.; and McGinnis, L.F., “Modelling and Analysis of an Acyclic Multi-Stage Production Planning Problem”, ORSA/TIMS Joint National Meeting, Toronto, Canada, May 1981.
McGinnis, L.F.; and Venkata Rao, V., “On Goal Programming in Networks”, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting, Southeast Chapter, The Institute of Management Sciences, 1977.
Patel, N.R.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Modified S-s Policy for Inventory Control”, Annual Conference of the Computer Society of India, Poona, January 1977.
Rama Rao, T.P.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Mini Computer Based Operating System for Computer Aided Instruction”, Symposium on Computer Aided Instruction, IIM Ahmedabad, 1976.
Kaul, M.; and Venkata Rao, V., “Design of Display-Based Simulation Models”, National Systems Conference, University of Roorkee, March 1976.
Bhatnagar, S.C.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Computer-Based Production Planning System for Textiles”, Annual Conference of the Computer Society of India, January 1975.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Batra, J.L., “Batch Size Selection and Batch Sequencing in a University Computer Centre”, Annual Conference of the Computer Society of India, Ahmedabad, January 1975.
Venkata Rao, V., “An Analysis of Cost Structure in Iron and Steel Industry”, Industrial Engineering and Management, October 1974.

Awards

1966-1971: State Government’s Special Merit Scholarship for the top ranking students in Higher Secondary examination, awarded by Government of Andhra Pradesh.
1977-1981: National Merit Scholarship for studies abroad, awarded by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
1981: Wunch Award for outstanding Ph.D. dissertation awarded by the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA.
1983, 1984: Best Teacher Award, awarded by the first year postgraduate and fellow students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Research & Publications

Venkata Rao, V., “Policy Alternatives for the Fellow Programme in Management”, in Vijay Sherry Chand and T.V. Rao (ed.), Nurturing Institutional Excellence: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Macmillan Publishers India Private Limited, 2011, 265-276.
Venkata Rao, V., “Issues in the Design of Training Programs on e-Governance,” Vikalpa, 33(4) (October–December 2008), 88-91.
Vohra, Neharika; and Venkata Rao, V., “Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in Conversation with Neharika Vohra and V. Venkata Rao”, Vikalpa, 34(1) (January–March 2009), 61-68.
Venkata Rao, V., “Process Re-Design and Computerization”, Invited Address, Fourth IEEE All India Student Congress (AISC-2007), Sep 28–30, 2007, DA-IICT, Gandhinagar.
Venkata Rao, V., “Knowledge Management in Indian Software Export Industry”, Conference on Knowledge Management, IIPS, Devi Ahalya University, Indore, October 2002 (Keynote Address).
“Evaluation of Gyandoot Project”, report of a research study sponsored by the World Bank, co-authors: Prof. T.P. Rama Rao and research staff of the Centre for Electronic Governance, IIMA.
“Evaluation of Check Post Computerization Project”, report of a research study sponsored by the World Bank, co-authors: Prof. T.P. Rama Rao and research staff of the Centre for Electronic Governance, IIMA.
Chavan, Vinaysingh; and Venkata Rao, V., “Revenue Management for Online Stores: Dual Channel Selling and Dynamic Pricing”, Third National Conference on Management Science and Practice (MSP 2008), Ahmedabad, March 22–24, 2008.
Kumar, S., V. V. Rao, and D. Tirupati (2006), “Multiple Products, Multiple Constraints, Single Period Inventory Problem: A Hierarchical Solution Procedure”, International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management, Volume 12, Number 1, March 2006, pp. 1-12.
Kumar, S., and V. V. Rao (2005), “Evaluating Lateral Transshipment Policy in a Two-Echelon Inventory System”, Journal of Comparative International Management (accepted for publication).
Was invited to participate in “Brainstorming Workshop for Building Institutional Partnerships for CIO Training” conducted by National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG), Hyderabad, during 27-28 December 2005. Prof. Venkata Rao made a presentation on “Experience in Designing and Conducting APCIO Programme” and also worked as a member of the working group on curriculum development committee.
Kumar, Satyendra; Rao, V. Venkata; Tirupati, Devanath, “Vehicle Allocation and Bin Packing”, Paper accepted for presentation at the 47th National Meeting of Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS), 16-18 May 2005, Halifax, Canada.
Ray, Subhajyoti; Rao, V. Venkata, “Assessing the Impact of e-Government Project on Citizen Service Quality: An Analytic Hierarchy Approach”, published in the proceedings of the conference “ECEG 2004: 4th European Conference on e-Government”, held at Dublin, Ireland, 17-18 June 2004.
Rao, T.P. Rama; Rao, V. Venkata; Bhatnagar, S.C.; and Satyanarayana, J., “e-Governance Assessment Frameworks”, research report sponsored by the Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India, New Delhi.
Rao, V. Venkata; Ray, Subhajyoti, “Civic Centers of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Gujarat”, chapter in the research report “Evaluation of e-Governance Projects”, sponsored by The Asia Foundation, USA, May 2004.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Sridharan, R., “Minimum Rooted Not-Necessarily-Spanning Arborescence Problem”, Networks, 39(2), 2002, 77-87.
Rao, Venkata V., “Desired: A Phased Implementation of ERP”, Case Diagnosis of the case “Erhardt + Leimer India Limited: Strategic Transformation through ERP”, Vikalpa, Vol. 26, No. 1, Jan-Mar 2001, pp. 110-114.
Panelist at “Open House on Y2K” organised by Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 11 August 1999, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad.
“Y2K Conversion Projects: What a Manager Should Be Aware Of”, Vikalpa, Vol. 23, No. 2, April-June 1998, pp. 3-13.
“ERP: Lessons from Experience”, invited paper at the Southern Regional Conference of the Computer Society of India, Vijayawada, February 6-7, 1998.
“Integrating Decision Support and Knowledge-based Systems: Some Examples”, keynote address at the National Seminar on Knowledge-based Systems, Computer Society of India, Vallabh Vidya Nagar, June 3-4, 1998.
“Primal and Lagrangian Heuristics for the Minimum Weight Rooted Arborescence Problem”, presented at the annual conference of the Operational Research Society of India, IIT Bombay, December 1996.
“Management Gaming through Computer Networks”, invited presentation at the Seminar on Technologies for Educational Networking, IGNOU, New Delhi, November 1-2, 1995.
“Developing a Training Programme on Shipping Management”, presented at the 31st National Maritime Day Seminar, Bombay, April 4, 1994.
Manikutty, S.; Raghuram, G.; Venkata Rao, V.; and Roy, T.A., “A Computer Based Crew Management System for Freight Trains in South Central Railway”, in Srinivasan S. (ed.), Information Technology and Management, Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1992.
Raghuram, G.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Computer Based Crew Scheduling System for Freight Trains in Indian Railways”, Rail Transport, Vol. 1, No. 4, Oct-Dec 1992.
Maslekar, N.V.; Rama Rao, T.P.; and Venkata Rao, V., “The Role of IT in the Corporate Sector: The Case of HMT”, workshop on Information Technology for National Development, IIM Ahmedabad, March 1993.
Manikutty, S.; Raghuram, G.; and Venkata Rao, V., “Simulation Models to Evaluate Railway Operating Policies”, International Conference Operational Research for Development (ICORD-92), IIM Ahmedabad.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Sreedharan, R., “The Minimum Weight Rooted Arborescence Problem: Weights on Arcs Case”, IIMA Working Paper No. 1030, May 1992.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Raghuram, G., “A Decision Support System for Improving Railway Line Capacity”, Public Enterprise, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 1991.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Syam Prasad, C., “Gantt Chart Colouring”, Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Computer Society of India, New Delhi, 1991.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Syam Prasad, C., “Interactive Gantt Charting”, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Computer Society of India, Bangalore, 1989.
Venkata Rao, V., “Can We Justify Research on Optimization Methods?: The Case of Optimization in Multi-Stage Production Systems”, National Seminar organized by the Computer Society of India, Vallabh Vidyanagar, 1990.
Venkata Rao, V., “Computers in Management Education”, invited paper, Western Regional Conference-89, Computer Society of India.
McGinnis, L.F.; and Venkata Rao, V., “Cost Parametric Families of Multi-Stage Lot Sizing Problems: Some Structural Results”, Conference on Multi-Echelon Inventory Systems, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, June 1987.
Venkata Rao, V., “Flexible Access to Models and Data Through Decision Support Systems”, Vikalpa, Vol. 12, No. 1, Jan-Mar 1987.
Venkata Rao, V.; and McGinnis, L.F., “Optimal Lot Sizing in Multiperiod Production Systems”, Institute of Industrial Engineers Transactions (USA), Vol. 15, No. 1, March 1983.
McGinnis, L.F.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Decomposition Method for Optimal Lot Sizing in Acyclic Production Systems”, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1983.
Venkata Rao, V.; and McGinnis, L.F., “The Minimum Weight Rooted Arborescence Problem: A Branch and Bound Solution”, IIMA Working Paper Series, No. 514, June 1984.
“Quantity Discount Pricing Model: An Exact Formulation and Analysis”, IIMA Working Paper, 1987.
Venkata Rao, V.; and McGinnis, L.F., “Modelling and Analysis of an Acyclic Multi-Stage Production Planning Problem”, ORSA/TIMS Joint National Meeting, Toronto, Canada, May 1981.
McGinnis, L.F.; and Venkata Rao, V., “On Goal Programming in Networks”, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting, Southeast Chapter, The Institute of Management Sciences, 1977.
Patel, N.R.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Modified S-s Policy for Inventory Control”, Annual Conference of the Computer Society of India, Poona, January 1977.
Rama Rao, T.P.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Mini Computer Based Operating System for Computer Aided Instruction”, Symposium on Computer Aided Instruction, IIM Ahmedabad, 1976.
Kaul, M.; and Venkata Rao, V., “Design of Display-Based Simulation Models”, National Systems Conference, University of Roorkee, March 1976.
Bhatnagar, S.C.; and Venkata Rao, V., “A Computer-Based Production Planning System for Textiles”, Annual Conference of the Computer Society of India, January 1975.
Venkata Rao, V.; and Batra, J.L., “Batch Size Selection and Batch Sequencing in a University Computer Centre”, Annual Conference of the Computer Society of India, Ahmedabad, January 1975.
Venkata Rao, V., “An Analysis of Cost Structure in Iron and Steel Industry”, Industrial Engineering and Management, October 1974.

Enquire Now

Login

Contact

Faculty Details

Dr. V. Venkata Rao

BIO

Research & Publications

Awards

Research & Publications

Enquire Now

Apply Now

Apply Now

Apply Now

Apply Now