Sarat Chandra Chemudugunta, co-founder of a niche nutraceutical company reveals an overarching desire to see IIIT-Hyderabad’s Alumni Association go live. Deconstructing the man behind the mission.

If you enjoy those unlimited rotis at your IIIT-H Mess, you can thank Sarat Chandra for it. As a Mess committee member, the third batch student championed the move, overturning the two-roti per capita limit. Today, he carries the same passion into his role as a catalyst of the IIIT-H Alumni Association (IIIT-HAA). Probably the only student on campus with a camera in the early days, he also owns the largest photography collection of the first five batches of IIIT-Hyderabad.

Alumni—the end owners of the Institute
“We are 7000 alumni spread across the map,” observes Sarat, who strongly believes that strong alumni shape the destiny of the institute. Notable IIIT-H alumni include leaders in artificial intelligence, tech founders, and academic researchers like Siva Reddy, Dr. Naveena Yanamala, Manish Jain, Sourav Chatterjee and an impressive C-Suite that includes Karandeep Anand of Walt Disney, Anshuman Singh and Abhimanyu Saxena of Scaler Academy, Pramod Nair, Harshit Sureka and Bhaskar Kakani.

Founded alongside Chief Minister Naidu’s mega vision for a premier cyber-city, the twenty-eight-year-old Institute, quickly built itself a formidable reputation for excellence. Driven by the visionary genius of CMU’s Prof. Raj Reddy, Father of Indian AI and backed by a stellar faculty, the young Institute set the benchmark for delivering top research in computer science and allied fields and an intense coding culture.

While initial discussions for an official alumni association began three years back, it has picked up pace recently. “We are in the final stretch of registering the body, with Indian and International chapters that will formalize our alumni network”, promises Sarat who sees himself as the endeavor’s Spirit Captain, dropping into campus for pep talks, and networking with alumni to move the Juggernaut along.

IIIT-H moulds the gaming spirit Sarat was no stranger to IIIT Hyderabad. Frequent campus visits to meet older brother Chaitanya, a first batcher, had already brought the Institute into his radar. For his batch of 150 toppers from their towns and villages, the competition became fierce in his first semester. Coming from the small railway town of Guntakal, while the academic part was definitely hard in the first year, the adjustment was quick.

It was four years peppered with some great memories and life-defining events. “I saw the campus grow; from the first batch of fifty students housed in a large building, to full-fledged infrastructure with single room hostels by the time I joined. Never had I enjoyed the luxury of a room to myself”, he retorts.

Organizing the Freshers party for the fourth batch as class representative, coordinating the annual college fest, Felicity, and volunteering for GITEX Hyderabad 2003 honed his people skills. An active sportsman and wicket-keeper in his college days, he recalls beating his seniors in friendly matches, only to end up losing to their juniors. “That’s the circle of life, I guess,” he smiles.

Having access to personal computers and the internet in early 2002, the multiplayer games played overnight on the campus network were cherished adrenaline-charged moments for the master of Quake II Arena.

The first outstation tour to NTPC at Visakhapatnam stood out more for the delays, that turned an industry tour into a one-hour whirlwind factory visit. The fun-packed round train trip forged new friendships, cemented later with Go-Karting expeditions at Runway 9. The brand new Gachibowli stadium had recently opened for the National Games and early batches recall pulling an all-nighter, putting together handwritten name cards on lanyards for celebrity participants.

Mathematics classes with Prof. Kaul, Physics with Prof. Kapoor and HTML with a young Prof. Vishal Garg were some beautiful snapshots of memory. Prof. Govindarajulu’s classes were filled with wit and humour especially when he would translate Telugu sayings or share anecdotes.

London calling and a calling in business administration

Recruited right out of college by Tata Consultancy Services, it was an eventful six-year stint (2004-2010) in Hyderabad and London for the engineer. IIIT-H’s coding strength gave Sarat a head start since he could immediately automate and write certain scripts. “I was elevated to a module leader over senior staff, although I was just a 6-month-old fresher”, he comments.

His London, UK tenure was his first exposure to life in a truly global city. Working out of central London, commuting by the Tube and visiting trade fairs was an immersive experience that opened his eyes to the world of business. He returned to India in late 2009 and six months later, was preparing entrance applications for his Masters’ in Business Administration.

Sarat completed his MBA from the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Indiana – a top-ranked university for business studies. The two-year program introduced him to exciting new areas in accounting, reading financial statements, advertising, marketing and extra-curricular roles as member of the Marketing Club and VP Finance of Net Impact Club, that would become useful in later life.

From rocky beginnings to sweet success in Nutra
When Sarat returned to India for his Christmas break, his parents, who were in the healthcare industry, had already lined up an interesting business proposition for him. A nutraceutical powder manufacturer was in the ideation stage and was looking for a full-time contributing partner. A verbal commitment was given. Three days after his graduation ceremony, Sarat flew back to India to join Zenova Bio Nutrition Pvt Ltd as a director.

Many grassroots-level challenges were surmounted in those early days. Nutraceuticals was a sunrise industry, but they were in an odd spot. While manufacturing practices were pharma-like, the ingredients were classified as food, and any novel functional ingredients had to be first registered with FSSAI before importing.

In 2023, Zenova Bio Nutrition Pvt Ltd was rebranded as Pulse Nutri Science Pvt Ltd to directly market clinically prescribed medical nutrition powders for specific health conditions. Several specialized clinical nutrition products address specific ailments and disease management, for diabetes, post-chemotherapy and post-surgery recovery, bariatric surgery, liver transplant, end-stage renal disease and critical care.

Sarat’s overall knowledge was leveraged for formulation development, raw material qualification, optimizing plant operations and B2B marketing. The company had trade partnerships in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore, Middle East, Africa and Central America. Post-COVID, it was a strategic move to expand deeper into the Indian market.

Sarat is recognized as a faculty by ReCHaN (Resource Centre for Health Supplements and Nutraceuticals) which works closely with FSSAI for training companies in nutraceutical manufacturing. During his entrepreneurial journey, Zenova Bio Nutrition was awarded as best nutrition company for clinical nutrition products by ASSOCHAM in 2018 & 2019.

In recent years, the entrepreneur has reduced his stake in the nutraceutical industry and is actively evaluating emerging fields where he believes his diverse expertise and strengths can be best utilized. He recently acquired a 3.5% stake in a start-up working in green hydrogen and clean energy solutions aimed at decarbonizing cement industry through Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS).

Philately and an invaluable coin collection Sarat became a good badminton player, courtesy of the Railway club and Institute in Guntakal – his town in school years. The game is still winning him prizes in apartment and company tournaments.

His childhood hobby in stamp collection and numismatics has today grown into an invaluable collection of rare coins dating back 2000 years old to the Magadha, Chola and Krishnadevaraya dynasties, several Indian princely states, Sultanates and Mughal era coinage. “I have great fascination for historical figures and when I buy a coin, I try research the story behind it and the king who minted it”, notes the entrepreneur whose viewing choices lean towards documentaries that unlock secrets of the early human civilization.

Today, he counts his blessings in getting home early from work to spend quality time with his wife and seven-year-old kid. A constant traveller, he enjoys memorable bi-annual vacations with his young family and parents, to international destinations like Turkey, the Middle East, the Far East and USA.

About his vision for his alma mater, he elaborates that he “would like to see mandatory courses in business, accounting and financial management for our students”. He urges students to explore untapped fields with good potential like agri-tech, green energy and carbon capture, to name a few.

Connecting back to the alma mater
“Three years back, Prof. PJ Narayanan and Alumni coordinator Meenakshi Vishwanath expressed a strong intention for a formalized alumni body. Although an informal Alumni Association in the USA was already channelling alumni donations, we needed a formal structure”, he observes. It began with discussions on the objectives, byelaws and deliverables and today, the pace has picked up and the IIIT-H AA is on the home stretch to finish. The chief movers are Maliha Maryam, Vipul Kedia and early batchers like Subhash Karri, and Vivek Mandava who had created the US-based association.

Once IIIT-H AA is set up in a dedicated space on campus, Sarat Chandra looks forward to a more structured role in the initial stages of the organisation. What drives the alum is the memory that IIIT-H started off as a family, with the vibe of a young startup, where everybody knew your name. And that is a legacy worth preserving.