Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra celebrates his 68th birthday today. Anand Mahindra was born on 1st May, 1955 in Bombay to late industrialist Harish Mahindra and Indira Mahindra. He got his MBA degree from the Harvard Business School in the USA. He joined the Mahindra Group in 1981 and played a key role in transforming the company into a global brand. Today, per a Forbes report, Anand Mahindra’s net worth stands at $2.1 billion.
Anand Mahindra ranked 91 in the annual richest list published by Forbes magazine in 2022. Anand Mahindra is the third generation scion of the Mahindra clan and currently heads the $19 billion (revenue) Mahindra & Mahindra group. His wealth mainly comes from his stakes in the Mahindra & Mahindra company, and from a stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank.
The growth of Mahindra Group under Anand Mahindra’s leadership
Mahindra & Mahindra was incorporated as Mahindra & Mohammed in 1945 by JC Mahindra, KC Mahindra, and Malik Ghulam Muhammad in Ludhiana, Punjab to trade steel. Two years later, in 1947, Mohammed divested his stake in the company and moved to Pakistan. Anand Mahindra took over as the managing director of the conglomerate in 1997. In August 2012, he took on the role of Chairman of the board and Managing Director of the Mahindra Group from his uncle, Keshub Mahindra, with the conglomerate’s market capitalization at Rs 53,000 crore at the time. Today, Mahindra & Mahindra is a diversified group with a market capitalisation of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
The group, in the meanwhile, formed many joint ventures and expanded from being an automobile manufacturer to other businesses which today spans 22 industries including automobiles, aerospace, defence, information technology, hospitality and finance. In 1994, the group had become so expansive that it had to undergo a major restructuring which gave birth to Mahindra Group’s six strategic business units including automotive, farm equipment, financial services, IT, infrastructure development services and steel trading.
Under Anand Mahindra, the group also got a makeover with the introduction of a new logo in 2000 and the same year saw the launch of Mahindra Bolero and then Mahindra Scorpio in 2002. Mahindra is best known for its tractors and its sports utility vehicles. In 2021, Anand Mahindra launched the XUV 700 SUV and in 2022, the revamped version of the Scorpio. In 2010, Mahindra sponsored the FIFA World Cup and later in 2014, it entered FIA Formula E Championships. Anand Mahindra also owns a stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank. He relinquished his role as executive chairman and became non-executive chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra in April 2020.