diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/__init__.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/__init__.py
index 2001c80ce6e6..044eacc7ee12 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/__init__.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/__init__.py
@@ -81,5 +81,3 @@
 from apache_beam.pipeline import Pipeline
 from apache_beam.transforms import *
 # pylint: enable=wrong-import-position
-
-__version__ = version.get_version()
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/version.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/version.py
index ef07dbf99f99..d46433aa23f7 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/version.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/version.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 """Apache Beam SDK version information and utilities."""
 
 
+import os
 import re
 
 
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ def get_version():
 
 # Read the version from pom.xml file
 def get_version_from_pom():
-  with open('pom.xml', 'r') as f:
+  with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', 'pom.xml'), 'r') as f:
     pom = f.read()
     regex = (r'.*<parent>\s*'
              r'<groupId>[a-z\.]+</groupId>\s*'
diff --git a/sdks/python/setup.py b/sdks/python/setup.py
index 3456e7de26f5..172691cd36c0 100644
--- a/sdks/python/setup.py
+++ b/sdks/python/setup.py
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@
 
 
 def get_version():
-  global_names = {'__name__': '__main__'}
+  global_names = {
+      '__name__': '__main__',
+      '__file__': os.path.abspath('./apache_beam/version.py')}
   exec(open(os.path.normpath('./apache_beam/version.py')).read(), global_names)
   return global_names['__version__']