Pingali Venkayya (August 2, 1876 - July 4, 1963) was the designer of the Indian national flag.
He was born in Bhatlapenumarru, near Masulipatnam or the present day Machilipatnam of Andhra Pradesh


After high school at Masulipatnam, and further studies to columbo, he spent 5 years from 1916 to 1921 researching flags of 30 countries and finally came up with the present tricolor.

However, the flag of the Vande Mataram movement is sometimes thought to be the antecedent of Venkayya's tricolor.


Pingali Venkayya, the designer of the national flag died, unhonoured on July 4, 1963, in conditions of poverty. There is not even a memorial in his hometown Machilipatnam to the man who made such an important contribution to the nation.