Keshub Mahindra
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Contents |
Timeline: 1929- 2015
April 13, 2023: The Times of India
1923 | Keshub Mahindra is born on Oct 9 in Shimla
1945 | His father J C Mahindra along with brother K C Mahindra and Ghulam Mohammad (who became Pakistan FM later) set up Mahindra & Mohammed (later changed to Mahindra & Mahindra) for steel trading
1947 | Keshub graduated from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (he was its senior most alumnus in India) and joined M&M, which had just started assembling Willys jeeps in Mumbai
1962 | Mahindra Ugine Steel was formed in partnership with Ugine Kuhlmann, France. Then PM Jawaharlal Nehru visitedthe steel factory
1963 | Keshub took over as M&M chairman after uncle K C Mahindra died. In the same year, M&M produces its first tractor as part of a JV with US-based International Harvester
1984 | Keshub was non-executive chairman of Union Carbide when the gas tragedy occurred in Bhopal 1986 | Mahindra British Telecom was formed in partnership with British Telecom, which later became Tech Mahindra
1987 | Keshub was awarded French govt’shonour — Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’honneur
2004-2010 | Keshub served as member of the PM’s council on trade & industry
2012 | Keshub retired after helming the group for nearly 5 decades, passing on the chairmanship to nephew Anand Mahindra
➤Over the years, he served on the boards of various cos like HDFC and Tata Steel. He was also the founding-chairman of housing fin co Hudco
A brief profile
April 13, 2023: The Times of India
Keshub Mahindra was India’s oldest billionaire, philanthropist and doyen of India Inc.
Born on October 9, 1923 in Shimla, the chairman emeritus of Mahindra Group witnessed up close and personal the transformation of the Indian economy. His nearly five-decadelong tenure at the helm of Mahindra & Mahindra saw the company negotiate everything from licence permit raj to liberalisation. Under his stewardship, M&M transformed from a steel trading company to a utility vehicle and steel maker to further diversify into telecom, tractors and other businesses.
Details
Mahindra transitioned co onto 1st growth spurt before liberalisation
Keshub Mahindra was and will always remain asource of inspiration for me and the entire Mahindra Group,” said his nephew Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group. “He was a man of principles and led from the front to preserve the legacy of our founders which has ensured that the organisation has remained rooted in ethics, values and good corporate governance. Keshub Mahindra was known for his astute business acumen that helped in transforming Mahindra into a diversified federation of companies. His compassion and people-centric approach made him a global business icon, who was much loved and respected.” Keshub Mahindra became acquainted with change right from the year he joined the company – 1947. Independence and Partition was a crucial time for the company, forcing the founders JC and KC Mahindra to rechristen what started out as Mahindra and Mohammed into Mahindra & Mahindra after the third founding partner, Ghulam Mohammed, left India to become Pakistan’s first finance minister. Sixteen years later, when Keshub Mahindra took over as the chairman of the company in 1963, M&M changed course again — first to forge its steel alliance with Ugine Kuhlmann and then to get into tractors in partnership with International Harvester. Mahindra old-timers say he had a distinctive leadership style that combined future-ready vision with a people-first approach. He was instrumental in the group getting into partnerships with Willys Corporation for utility vehicles, International Harvester for tractors, and British Telecom for software services among others. He also expanded into sectors like hospitality and real estate. In a sense, he transitioned the company onto its first growth spurt before liberalisation, after which his nephew and successor Anand took up the mantle to rapidly transform the group. “I joined the company in the70s and found him to be very accessible – he was unfailingly kind, had an infectious charm and always remembered names and faces,” says Avinash Datta who retired as president & MD of Mahindra China Tractor company in 2006 but continued as adviser on international business development for another eight years. “That compassion continued long after people retired from the company, fostering aculture of ‘once a Mahindra man, always a Mahindra man’. When my wife passed away long after I retired, I got a beautiful condolence letter from him. That kind of personal touch was his leadership style.” That personal touch is also something that former M&M MD Pawan Goenka mentioned in his tribute. Keshub Mahindra, he tweeted, was “the nicest person I had the privilege of knowing and I always looked forward to meetings with him and (was) inspired by how he connected business, economics and social matters.”
Receipts by
Arun Nanda
(As told to Namrata Singh), April 13, 2023: The Times of India
India may have seen many big businessmen, but Mr Keshub Mahindra was one of the few and the last of the generation of statesmen.
I have had the privilege of working with one of the finest statesmen in business that India ever had. The value system he followed clearly distinguished him from the rest. Having worked with the Mahindra Group for 50 years, and being conscientious myself, I can say with great pride that during all these years that I worked with him, there was not a single night when I went to bed thinking I did something wrong. I can recall times when he would be willing to shift the location of a factory out of a state only because he did not want the group to veer away from its value system. That was the foundation on which the Mahindra Group has been built.
Even before empowerment and trust became buzzwords, these were key leadership qualities Mr Mahindra demonstrated. He also had immense respect for people. Iwould always be introduced as a colleague and not as someone who worked under him. It’s only because of this culture of empowerment and trust that I have risen from a newly minted CA who joined the group at a monthly salary of Rs 1,000, to a member of the parent company’s board and chairman of several group companies.
After the liberalisation of the economy, when I was given the responsibility of looking at foraying into various services businesses, one of them was a water transportbusiness that ran into hurdles. I decided to wind up that business at a loss and I was dreading that Mr Mahindra would be angry.
But, to my surprise, Mr Mahindra was least perturbed. He told me, “You have been taking care of so many businesses. Had you not failed in one of them, I would have thought you are not taking any risks. ”
He, however, ensured you had done your homework properly. That boosted my confidence and empowered me further. I was only 38 years old then. Mr Mahindra also had the knack for grasping whichbusiness would make money, and that’s one of the reasons why the group did not enter the landline telecom space.
His humility and the way he respected people is something one seldom gets to see in today’s generation, which has become very transactional. When accolades were showered for any big accomplishment, Mr Mahindra would push us forward to accept them. That was one reason I received the “Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur’ — the highest civilian award of France.
Mr Mahindra had a close circle of friends from the business world and the key among them were J R D Tata, Deepak Parekh, Nusli Wadia and Dr Ashok Ganguly. He was an avid golfer and was also very fond of skiing. He was a Wharton tennis champion. Besides, on holidays at his Lonavala bungalow, he enjoyed cooking continental food, which was delicious.
He would have turned 100 in October this year. I had a plan for this 100th birthday, but destiny had it otherwise.
The writer is chairman, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts
