Dr. Raghavarao is basically a Chemical Engineer specialized in Food Engineering and Biotechnology. He obtained B.Tech from Andhra University, direct Ph.D. from ICT, Mumbai (formerly UDCT).  After PDF at NIST-Colorado and a brief stay at NIT, Warangal, he joined CFTRI in 1990 and continued there till he took over as the Director of CSIR-CFTRI. After superannuation, he has joined recently IIT Tirupati as Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Out of 30 significant achievements, 25 were converted into processes/technologies, out of which 15 were transferred to Industry. For Example, Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) technology transferred to about 60 industries. He has guided 22 students/fellow scientists for Ph.D. in Food Engineering/ Biotechnology and guiding 5 at the moment in Chemical Engineering. He has been recipient of prestigious NASI-Reliance and VASVIK awards for applied research. He has received prestigious National Fellowships of Academies (FNAE, FASc, FNAAS). He has over 160 publications (with ‘h’ index of 54) and citations over 6500, about 28 International patents and 55 Indian patents. He initiated several new research areas at CFTRI and now at IIT Tirupati. He has successfully completed as PI/Co-PI 50 Grant-in-aid projects and 25 Industrially sponsored projects.