Kailasam Raghavendra Rao

Kailasam Raghavendra Rao, is an Indian entrepreneur from Chennai and the founder of Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited (currently Orchid Pharma Limited), a former top 500 Indian company on D and B listing, in terms of market capitalisation. The Government of India honoured Rao in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.

Bio Raghavendra Rao was born in 1958 in Chennai, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. His graduate studies were in Commerce which he completed in 1977 from Andhra University and continued his studies to obtain master's degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1979. and later, moved to Ashok Leyland in 1981.

Raghavendra Rao is a recipient of the India Young Business Achiever Award in 1997 and the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1999. In 2011, the Government of India included Rao in the list of Republic Day honours for the award of Padma Shri. He is a Director at Orchid Laboratories Limited, Orchid Nutricare Limited, UK, BEXEL Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Al Buraimi Group.