Born on August 3, 1929 at Bhiminupatnam in Visakhapatnam district, Mr Rao was educated at Guindy Engineering College, Madras and Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.
An electronics engineer, Dr Rao had served in several companies and was associated with many organisations.
He served as a Member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1974-76 before being elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971, 1977 and 1980. He served as a Union Deputy Minister for Electronics during 1982-84 and later as Chairman of the Electronics Commission.