Khammam Family Builds Flag Manufacturing Business in Hyderabad

A family hailing from Khammam and settled in Hyderabad has built a national flag manufacturing enterprise named Flags and Poles, currently supplying 300 to 400 national flags each month to central and state government departments across 18 states. The family notably manufactured and installed a giant national flag measuring 108 feet by 72 feet—the country’s second-tallest tricolour flag—at Sanjeevaiah Park on the shores of Hussain Sagar in Hyderabad.

The business was founded by K Sanjeeva Rao and K Padmavathi, who both previously worked in the District Rural Development Agency. The concept of manufacturing national flags emerged from Rao's work as a vexillologist, an expert who studies the history, meaning, and design of flags. Rao had visited 13 countries across the globe to collect national, historical, and regional flags, while also pursuing interests as a numismatist and philatelist.

What began as a hobby eventually transformed into a passion and a commercial enterprise. The family initially set up a small workshop in Khammam with 30 women drawn from local self-help groups. These women handled the stitching, packaging, and supply of national flags to schools and government departments. Encouraged by the strong response to their products, the family formally established Flags and Poles.

A major breakthrough came in 2016 when the then Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister, KT Rama Rao, offered them the opportunity through the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to manufacture and install the massive flag at Sanjeevaiah Park.

To ensure product durability, the firm procures quality polyester cloth from spinning mills located in Surat, Gujarat. High manufacturing standards are maintained so that the national flags do not tear during heavy winds and gales, while the family strictly adheres to the rules and regulations outlined in the Flag Code of India-2002.

The family operation expanded further when the couple's two sons, K Srikanth and K Gowtham, decided to leave their software careers to join their parents in managing the flag business. Srikanth had pursued a Master of Science in Information Technology and worked in the United States and Australia. Gowtham had worked as a software professional for Automated Teller Machines in Hyderabad. Together, the family continues their decade-long journey of manufacturing national flags.