Mahindra pays taxes to help India’s poor
Shirajiv Sirimane in Mumbai
India is a unique country where you can see high tech as well as zero
technology in the same area. You can see some of the richest
entrepreneurs in the world and in the same vicinity one can see the
poorest of the poor.
It has to be said that on average India is a poor nation and if it
can move out of poverty, it would be strongest nation in the world,
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd Vice Chairman and Managing Director Anand G.
Mahindra said.
He said entrepreneurs like him could do a lot to change the lives of
less affluent people and one way to help towards this initiative is to
pay tax. “I am so happy to pay taxes as I know that it would help the
poor to rise in the ladder towards prosperity.”
He said he had his higher education overseas and he had many
opportunities to commence an enterprise and do even better than what he
is doing now. “However I believe in India and its democracy which is
helping to slowly but surely take the country towards being a super
power.
A firm believer in the power of education, Anand initiated the Nanhi
Kali programme about two decades ago to provide free education to
economically underprivileged girls in the country. There are over 70,000
Nanhi Kalis across the country today.
Anand is co-founder of Naandi Danone, which is the largest safe
drinking water provider to rural areas in the country catering to nearly
three million customers.
Anand is also a Life Trustee on the Board of Naandi Foundation, a
leader in providing meals to 1.3 million children daily and academic
support in over 1800 government schools.
Anand believes that a study of liberal arts is essential in shaping
leaders of the future.
He has given the largest personal donation overseas by an Indian - an
endowment of US $ 10 million to the Harvard Humanities Center, which is
being relaunched as the Mahindra Humanities Center.
Mahindra said over 50 percent of the Indian population is averaging
25 years and this would certainly help the economy.
Like everything in the world the country too is changing with ‘made
in India’ products and services gaining better respect both locally and
internationally.
He said Mahindra products too are yet to gain top world recognition
though Mahindra tractors; (volume wise) is the number one in the world.
“You will see this changing in two years when the whole world would
talk about Mahindra products and respect our brand for even better
quality, design and technology brand,” he promised.
| Recognition
|
* ’Knight of the Order of Merit’ by the
President of the French Republic
* Rajiv Gandhi Award 2004 for outstanding contribution in the
business field
* 2005 Leadership Award from the American India Foundation for
his, and the Mahindra Group’s commitment to corporate social
responsibility.
* CNBC Asia Business Leader Award for the year 2006.
* The Most Inspiring Corporate Leader of the Year 2007 from NDTV
Profit.
* Business Man of the Year 2007 from Business India.
* Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award 2008.
* National Statesman for Excellence in Business Practices -
Qimpro Platinum Standard 2008 Award by Qimpro Foundation.
* CNBC TV18 Outstanding Business Leader of the Year 2009
* Business Leader of the Year 2009 by Economic Times
* Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year India award for 2009
* Indian of the Year award 2009 by NDTV
* IMC Juran Quality Medal 2010 by IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National
Quality Award Trust |
|
Mahindra at his Mumbai company board room.
Picture by Shirajiv Sirimane |
When asked by Daily News Business as to what he thinks about Sri
Lanka he said that it is on the way to become the next Singapore.
“The war pressed the pause button for this and now with permanent
peace Sri Lanka is cruising towards this goal.”
Here are some of the excerpts of the interview:
Q: What do you think was the turning point for the Indian economy?
A: It is definitely Information Technology which was the biggest
success for India.
When the IT boom happened over five decades ago even the government
did not have any knowledge of it. I think this factor too helped the
industry to grow.
However I must say that in the 1990’s government assistance and
regulations did help the industry to grow.
Q: How do you see the growth in the Indian telecommunication
industry?
A: Here again I must also give credit to the government for
revolutionizing the telco industry and make it the third largest in the
world.
I still remember six years ago, when I had to wait two days to book
an inter provincial call and when I finally got it I was allowed to
speak only for three minutes.
Q: How do you see the future of Mahindra and Mahindra?
A: Mahindra was one of the first companies to look at Hybrid vehicles
and we will pursue with this in the future as well.
We definitely want to widen our global footprint. The buying of Reva
Electric Car Company and Ssangyong Motors in Korea have given us a
larger international dealer network as well as access to new technology
which we would be blending with our technology in the future to enter a
new era of competition.
We will certainly look more aggressively at the SUV market.
The aviation sector too is an area of our concern and we will soon
make an announcement in this regard.
Q: Do you have plans to enter politics?
A: The answer to that is a definite no. However I must say never say
never.
Contribution to thought leadership
|
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd Vice Chairman and Managing Director
Anand G. Mahindra |
Mahindra frequently shares his views and ideas on Indian economy and
business through his writings in some of India’s leading business
magazines.
He is one businessman to have grasped the power of the social media
and has set a trend on how it can be used for business, brand building,
consumer interaction. He is on Twitter under the handle @anandmahindra
and has over 3,46,000 followers.
Career graph
Anand, graduated with Honours (Magna cum laude) from Harvard College,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1977. In 1981 he secured an MBA degree from
the Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts. He returned to India
that year and joined Mahindra Ugine Steel Company Ltd (MUSCO), the
country’s foremost producer of specialty steels, as Executive Assistant
to the Finance Director.
In 1989 he was appointed President and Deputy Managing Director of
the company.
During his stint at MUSCO, he initiated the Mahindra Group’s
diversification into the new business areas of real estate development
and hospitality management.
In 1991, he was appointed Deputy Managing Director of Mahindra &
Mahindra Ltd., the country’s dominant producer of off-road vehicles and
agricultural tractors.
He initiated a comprehensive change programme in Mahindra & Mahindra
Ltd. to make the company an efficient and aggressive competitor in the
new liberalized economic environment in India.
In April 1997, he was appointed Managing Director of Mahindra &
Mahindra Ltd, and in January 2003 given the additional responsibility of
Vice Chairman.
Today, the Mahindra Group is a US $ 12.5 billion organization and one
of India’s top 10 industrial houses.
Mahindra has evolved into a socially and environmentally responsible
global federation of companies with a leading presence in each sector in
which it is present.
Mahindra is present across the automotive spectrum - two-wheelers,
three-wheelers, commercial vehicles, SUVs, MPVs to sedans, tractors, and
even powerboats and aircrafts. In addition, the Group’s diversified
nature of business spans many frontiers - automotive components,
Finance, Insurance, IT, Retail, Real Estate, Hospitality, Logistics,
After-Market.
During Anand’s tenure, Mahindra has also grown inorganically, seizing
opportunities across the globe. Recent acquisitions include Ssangyong
Motors, Reva Electric Car Company, Satyam Computer Services, Aerostaff
Australia, Gippsland Aeronautics among others. |
