Rs 10,000 investment created a Rs 600 crore per yer business: How Bengaluru man created flourishing IT empire that survived three recessions

There is no alternative to perseverance. Armed with nothing but a vision and an iron will, an entrepreneur from Bengaluru built a business that generated over Rs 600 crore annually with just Rs 10,000. In 1991, when India opened its doors to globalisation and Information Technology was beginning to show potential, and several multinational companies built their Indian chapters, one youth from a remote village in Karnataka decided to chase his fortune. RS Shanbhag created Valuepoint Systems in 1991 in Bengaluru to offer system integration services to new players in the Indian business ecosystem.

According to YourStory, Shanbhag started his journey with just Rs 10,000 in his pocket and a can-do attitude. This was how he bootstrapped the company through not one but three recessions without suffering a huge loss.

Valuepoint gradually became a top IT infrastructure service company in South Asia, which serves 73 Fortune 500 companies, and by 2019, was generating a staggering Rs 600 crore per month.


His main aim was to generate more jobs for rural people, so they didn’t have to move to cities in search of jobs.

“I am from a small village called Ambikanagar in Karnataka,” says Shanbhag. The village, which is close to Dandeli, a forested area, didn’t have good high schools and colleges. He had to travel to a nearby town every day to study. “I grew up doing this and always felt that I needed to associate with the rural people even if I was getting into other things,” he told YourStory.

By 2003, Valuepoint was only into system integration. Shanbhag started thinking about how to expand and diversify his business. He evaluated the life cycle of clients and looked into his technology requirements. The next year, the firm started document management services, offering an e-discovery system for documents. The company also started empowering rural youth, especially women. They hired graduates and trained them on technology.

Capitalizing on this expansion, Shanbhag diversified the enterprise into four unique segments. The company's main source of income shifted to IT infrastructure and solutions, providing jobs for around 1,500 individuals. The second division emphasises data and content management, comprising nearly 1,000 staff members. The last two verticals serve the education technology and healthcare industries, expanding the company's business portfolio even further.

About 90% of the company’s workforce were from rural backgrounds, and 85% were women. Shanbhag explained the advantages of having such a workforce - he had earned the loyalty of generations of employees and attrition was close to zero. The cost of operations was also low.

He boosted employee morale by distributing profits from certain projects within the teams. Recession endangered the company three times, but Shanbag’s company remained untouched, as they had built a reliable and sturdy global business model, impeccable management, a diversified business, and a loyal workforce.

“We were into around 16 verticals and didn't put all our eggs in one basket,” he said.

Reinvention Is The Name Of The Game

The entrepreneur said he wanted to help clients with new ways of doing business and remove bottlenecks. This includes offering digital and AI solutions to clients as well.

According to Tracxn reports, Valuepoint System had an annual revenue of Rs 500- 1,000 crore as of 2025.