Archive · 16 Aug 2026
Vessel Washer's Rs 3 Start, Rs 160 Crore Company Today
Once upon a time, a boy named Vijay Varma lived in a small village in Rajasthan, India.
His family was so poor that his mother traded leaves and firewood for just one bag of flour.
When Vijay was about 12 years old, his father had died and the family needed money, so he went to a big city to work.
He washed dishes for a food seller and earned only three rupees a day.
Life was very hard, but kind strangers helped him when he needed it most.
Vijay learned how to build houses and became really, really good at it.
He started his own construction company with his brother.
Today that company is worth 160 crore rupees, which is a gigantic amount of money!
He also built projects in faraway countries like Oman and Yemen.
Vijay says the secret to his success is being honest, working hard, and never giving up.
Vijay Varma, born in October 1978 in Bisau village, Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan, lost his father at age 11 and was raised alongside five siblings by his mother.
At around age 12 he left school, moved to Mumbai and then Pune, and began washing dishes for a vada pav vendor for Rs 3 a day.
He and his elder brother returned to their village a year later with Rs 65,000 and built the contracting firm Shyamsundar Cheeranjeevlalji Construction.
The firm grew to around 850 workers with an annual turnover of Rs 8 crore by 1998, after impressing builder Vimal Kumar Jain by finishing a sample flat in three days.
Varma founded Sai Vijay Construction in 2008, now valued at Rs 160 crore, and ran Rs 730 crore projects in Oman and Yemen, training over 3,800 workers.
- Who
- Vijay Varma, a Pune-based businessman who began working as a child in Rajasthan and built construction firms with his elder brother.
- What
- Rose from washing dishes for Rs 3 a day to leading a construction company valued at Rs 160 crore, with Rs 730 crore of international projects in Oman and Yemen.
- When
- From his birth in October 1978, through his childhood in the 1980s and 1990s, to the present; he founded his current company in 2008.
- Where
- Born in Bisau village, Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan; later worked in Mumbai, Ulhasnagar and Pune, and ran projects in Oman and Yemen.
- Why
- Poverty and the loss of his father pushed him to leave school and work; he credits honesty, hard work and perseverance for his success.
- Born
- October 1978, Bisau village, Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan
- First earnings in Pune
- Rs 3 a day washing dishes for a vada pav vendor
- First company
- Shyamsundar Cheeranjeevlalji Construction, named after his elder brother
- Current company
- Sai Vijay Construction, formalised as an LLP in 2011
- Company valuation
- Rs 160 crore today
- International projects
- Rs 730 crore in Oman and Yemen
- Workers trained abroad
- Over 3,800; 3,200 now run their own businesses
- Education completed
- 10th grade via open schooling, Civil Engineering Diploma and PhD