Mahindra and Mahindra

History

Mahindra & Mahindra was set up as a steel trading company in 1945 in Ludhiana as Mahindra & Mohammed by brothers K.C. Mahindra and J.C. Mahindra and Malik Ghulam Mohammed. After India gained independence and Pakistan was formed, Mohammed emigrated to Pakistan. The company changed its name to Mahindra & Mahindra in 1948. It eventually saw a business opportunity in expanding into manufacturing and selling larger MUVs, starting with the assembly under licence of the Willys Jeep in India. Soon established as the Jeep manufacturers of India, the company later commenced manufacturing light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and agricultural tractors. Today, Mahindra & Mahindra is a key player in the utility vehicle manufacturing and branding sectors in the Indian automobile industry with its flagship Mahindra XUV500 and uses India's growing global market presence in both the automotive and farming industries to push its products in other countries.

Over the past few years, the company has taken interest in new industries and in foreign markets. They entered the two-wheeler industry by taking over Kinetic Motors in India. M&M also has a controlling stake in the REVA Electric Car Company and acquired South Korea's SsangYong Motor Company in 2011. In 2010–11 M&M entered in micro drip irrigation with the takeover of EPC Industries Ltd in Nashik.

Automobiles

Mahindra & Mahindra, branded on its products usually as 'Mahindra', produces SUVs, saloon cars, pickups, commercial vehicles, and two wheeled motorcycles and tractors. It owns assembly plants in India, Mainland China (PRC), the United Kingdom, and has three assembly plants in the United States. Mahindra maintains business relations with foreign companies like Renault SA, France.

M&M has a global presence and its products are exported to several countries. Its global subsidiaries include Mahindra Europe S.r.l. based in Italy, Mahindra USA Inc., Mahindra South Africa and Mahindra (China) Tractor Co. Ltd.

Mahindra started making passenger vehicles firstly with the Logan in April 2007 under the Mahindra Renault joint venture. M&M made its maiden entry into the heavy trucks segment with the Mahindra Truck and Bus Division, the joint venture with International Truck, USA.

Mahindra produces a wide range of vehicles including MUVs, LCVs and three wheelers. It manufactures over 20 models of cars including larger, multi-utility vehicles like the Scorpio and the Bolero. It formerly had a joint venture with Ford called Ford India Private Limited to build passenger cars.

At the 2008 Delhi Auto Show, Mahindra executives said the company was pursuing an aggressive product expansion program that would see the launch of several new platforms and vehicles over the next three years, including an entry-level SUV designed to seat five passengers and powered by a small turbodiesel engine. True to their word, Mahindra & Mahindra launched the Mahindra Xylo in January 2009, selling over 15,000 units in its first six months.

Also in early 2008, Mahindra commenced its first overseas CKD operations with the launch of the Mahindra Scorpio in Egypt, in partnership with the Bavarian Auto Group. This was soon followed by assembly facilities in Brazil. Vehicles assembled at the plant in Bramont, Manaus, include Scorpio Pik Ups in single and double cab pick-up body styles as well as SUVs.

Mahindra planned to sell the diesel SUVs and pickup trucks starting in late 2010 in North America through an independent distributor, Global Vehicles USA, based in Alpharetta, Georgia. Mahindra announced it would import pickup trucks from India in knockdown kit (CKD) form to circumvent the Chicken tax. CKDs are complete vehicles that were assembled in the U.S. from kits of parts shipped in crates. On 18 October 2010, however, it was reported that Mahindra had indefinitely delayed the launch of vehicles into the North American market, citing legal issues between it and Global Vehicles after Mahindra retracted its contract with Global Vehicles earlier in 2010, due to a decision to sell the vehicles directly to consumers instead of through Global Vehicles. However, a November 2010 report quoted John Perez, the CEO of Global Vehicles USA, as estimating that he expected Mahindra's small diesel pickups to go on sale in the U.S. by spring 2011, although legal complications remained, and Perez, while hopeful, admitted that arbitration could take more than a year. Later reports suggested that the delays may be due to Mahindra scrapping the original model of the truck and replacing it with an upgraded one before selling them to Americans. In June 2012, a mass tort lawsuit was filed against Mahindra by its American dealers, alleging the company of conspiracy and fraud.

Mahindra & Mahindra has a controlling stake in Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles. In 2011, it also gained a controlling stake in South Korea's SsangYong Motor Company.

Mahindra launched its relatively heavily publicised SUV, XUV500, code named as W201 in September 2011. The new SUV by Mahindra was designed in-house and it was developed on the first global SUV platform that could be used for developing more SUVs. In India, the new Mahindra XUV 500 came in a price range between ₹1,140,000–1,500,000. The company was expected to launch 3 products in 2015 (2 SUVs and 1 CV) and an XUV 500 hybrid. Mahindra's two wheeler segment launched a new scooter in the first quarter of 2015. Besides India, the company also targeted Europe, Africa, Australia and Latin America for this model. Mahindra President Mr. Pawan Goenka stated that the company planned to launch six new models in the year. The company launched the CNG version of its mini truck Maxximo on 29 June 2012. A new version of the Verito in diesel and petrol options was launched by the company on 26 July 2012 to compete with Maruti's Dzire and Toyota Kirloskar Motor's Etios.

On 30 July 2015, Mahindra released sketches of a new compact SUV called the TUV300 slated to be launched on 10 September 2015. The TUV300 design took cues from a battle tank and used a downsized version of the mHawk engine found on the XUV500, Scorpio and some models of the Xylo. This new engine was christened as the mHawk80.

Automobile assembly plants

Military Defence

The company has built and assembled military vehicles, commencing in 1947 with the importation of the Willys Jeep that had been widely used in World War II. Its line of military vehicles include the Axe. It also maintains a joint venture with BAE Systems, Defence Land Systems India.

Energy

Mahindra & Mahindra entered the energy sector in 2002, in response to growing demands for increased electric power in India.

Since then, more than 150,000 Mahindra Powerol engines and diesel generator sets (gensets) have been installed in India. The inverters, batteries, and gensets are manufactured at three facilities in Pune (Maharashtra), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), and Delhi; and 160 service points across India offer 24–7 support to most key markets. Powerol is present in countries across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia—and expanding into the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Mahindra Powerol's energy services consist mostly of power leasing and telecom infrastructure management. In 2006, it became a major market leader in the telecom segment (and in 2011, its market share passed 45 percent).

Mahindra Cleantech Ltd focuses in eco-friendly, or 'green' power. In response to growing acceptance of Solar Power, it formed a subsidiary, Mahindra Solar, in 2010 to offer a range of solar solutions, both off grid and on grid, alongside Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC).

Mahindra EPC is the Engineering Procurement & Construction arm of the Mahindra group. A portfolio company under the Cleantech arm of Mahindra Partners, they offer solar solutions spanning On-Grid, EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) and Off-Grid products. The company commenced its operations in the year 2011 and has commissioned over 60 MW worth of Solar PV projects.

Meanwhile, its off-grid products include power packs and rooftop setups for business organisations and public institutions alongside rural electrification through lanterns and home and street lighting systems. The company works closely with Mahindra’s farm equipment division to offer lighting products to some of the more rural areas in India. It also works with Mahindra Powerol to offer solar power backup to telecom sites in India. In 2011, Mahindra Solar received a CRISIL rating of SP1A in 2011, the highest rating for any solar photovaltaic off-grid company.

Farm equipment

Mahindra began manufacturing tractors for the Indian market during the early '60s. It is the top tractor company in the world (by volume) with annual sales totaling more than 200,000 tractors. Since its inception, the company has sold over 2.1 million tractors. Mahindra & Mahindra’s farm equipment division (Mahindra Tractors) has over 1,000 dealers servicing approx. 1.45 million customers.

Mahindra tractors are available in 40 countries, including India, the United States, China, Australia, New Zealand, Africa (Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Gambia, Angola, Sudan, Ghana, and Morocco), Latin America (Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Central America, and the Caribbean), South Asia (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal), the Middle East (Iran and Syria) and Eastern Europe (Serbia, Turkey, and Macedonia. Mahindra Tractors manufactures its products at four plants in India, two in Mainland China, three in the United States, and one in Australia. It has three major subsidiaries: Mahindra USA, Mahindra (China) Tractor Company, and Mahindra Yueda (Yancheng) Tractor Company (a joint venture with the Jiangsu Yueda Group).

In 2003, the Farm Equipment Sector of Mahindra & Mahindra won the Deming Application Prize and in 2007 it received the Japan Quality Medal for implementing Total Quality Management in its entire business operations. The company has garnered the highest customer satisfaction index (CSI) in the industry at 88 percent. It earned a 2008 Golden Peacock Award in the Innovative Product/Services category for its in-house development of a load car. In its 2009 survey of Asia’s 200 most admired and innovative companies, the Wall Street Journal named Mahindra & Mahindra one of the 10 most innovative Indian companies.

In addition to tractors, Mahindra sells other farm equipment. It has expanded its product-line to include farm-support services via Mahindra AppliTrac (farm mechanisation products), Mahindra ShubhLabh (seeds, crop protection, and market linkages and distribution), and the Samriddhi Initiative (farm counselling and information services).

The Mahindra Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors (AFS), is one of the largest contributors to the Mahindra Group revenue and includes 27 businesses, 18 subsidiaries and 9 companies.

The Automotive business accounts for about 48% of India’s utility vehicle market share and is the number two CV player in India. The business has a presence in almost every segment of the automobile industry with a portfolio ranging from SUVs, luxury UVs, sedans, pick-ups, light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles to three-wheelers. Their customer base spans rural and urban India.

The Farm Equipment department also has its presence in end-to-end agriculture value chain providing irrigation, fertilization, seeds through varied agriculture and allied businesses.

Naming of vehicles

Mahindra seems to follow a superstition when it comes to naming its vehicles. The commercial vehicles made by the company follow the invisible rule of ending with an 'O', like in Scorpio, Verito, XUV500. It is believed that the company does this due to the success of its first two vehicles - Scorpio and Bolero.

Employees

As on 31 March 2013, the company had 34,612 employees, out of which 699 were women (2%). It also had around 16,000 temporary employees on the same date.

Company updates

Awards and recognitions