Feedback Ventures grew fast; in many different directions; and from many different offices in the first half of the 1990s. It was incorporated as a private limited company on June 27, 1990. To respond quickly to market opportunities in business advisory and project management, Feedback Ventures Private Limited set up many different divisions—Infratech Division, Venture Strat, Venture Acquire and Venture Implementation.

Feedback Ventures was one of the first recipient of venture capital, then a concept in its infancy, from RCTC (Risk Capital & Technology Co. Ltd.—a subsidiary of IFCI).

One of Feedback’s first clients was the country’s largest flexible packaging company—The Paper Products Limited, Mumbai. Having advised them on their expansion and diversification, and having arranged institutional finance for them, Feedback got into a joint venture with them to turnaround and manage a medium-sized packaging operation. This unusual step was taken to stand by Feedback’s signature line, “Implementers, not Consultants” which was later changed to “Making Infrastructure Happen”.

Another of Feedback’s major clients was the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation. In 1992, TIDCO asked Feedback to help develop the Madras Industrial Park, which later became Mahindra World City. Consequently, Feedback’s first office outside Delhi was in Chennai. Feedback’s first client in the project management business was a factory at Bhiwadi for Alpha Woven Labels Limited for a group of NRIs based at Thailand. This was followed by construction supervision for the DHL office.

Consolidation and focus on few, big clients was the mantra for Feedback Ventures in the mid 1990s. Our biggest client was Coca Cola, which hired us to set up 29 of its Greenfield and Brownfield bottling plants across the country. We had the responsibility of finding land, getting all clearances, helping in buying the land and converting franchisee-owned bottling plants. In Vijayawada alone, we had to convince 238 people to buy 14.5 hectares of land.

Another big client was the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The then Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu asked Feedback Ventures to work out his office and help draw the blueprint for increasing the attractiveness of Andhra Pradesh as an investment destination.

Feedback Ventures was also working with the Tamil Nadu Government. At that time, TN was contemplating setting up its factory near Chennai. Maharashtra was also inviting Ford to Pune. Our team of experts along with some TN officials made such a strong pitch on behalf of Tamil Nadu to Ford’s top management, that Ford chose Chennai over Pune.

In 1995, for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Feedback’s entire team was engaged to prepare and then make a mega presentation to the Chief Ministers of all seven North Indian States—Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Punjab, and the then undivided Uttar Pradesh on one platform.

This presentation called CONCORD, explained to the states how they would benefit more if they cooperated with each other to offer a single market, rather than competed for investments. A similar presentation was then made to the North Eastern states. It was called SUNRISE.

In 1997, Feedback started its engineering business. Feedback HSS was a joint venture with HSS, a Malaysian engineering company. In the same year, Feedback also bought in new shareholders. HDFC picked up a stake in our company, and Mrs. Renu Sud Karnad joined our board—and has been a director ever since. She is the longest serving outside director on the Feedback board. Feedback is grateful to Mrs. Karnad for her invaluable guidance and support over all these years. Other shareholders included the Walchand Group, which bought out the stake of RCTC, as well as individuals like Ajay Shriram and a few individual Malaysian businessmen.

With two infrastructure giants IDFC and DLF buying stakes, 2006 saw remarkable growth in Feedback Ventures.

The number of Feedbackers rose by 58 percent in the FY 2006-07—from 389 to 618. We have added newer offices in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chandigarh, and project offices across the country.

The India Infrastructure Initiative (Triple-I) that was launched in 2006, in partnership with IDFC attempts to develop a stream of bankable infrastructure projects on behalf of government agencies by marrying the financial expertise, deep domain knowledge and public policy acumen of IDFC with the project creation skills of Feedback. Triple-I has already signed agreements for six projects that are expected to see a total investment of more than Rs. 7,000 crore.

In the same year, Feedback Ventures Private Limited merged all its subsidiaries with itself. Both Feedback Turnkey Engineers and Feedback Strategic are now a part of the parent company, giving Feedback Ventures, a single, strong balance-sheet with zero debt.

The years that went by were exciting. We look forward to even more action in the years to come and aim to grow equally fast, on a bigger base!