“Corporate governance is the key that allows us to embrace all the other disciplines that go into the conduct of a business enterprise,” Keshub Mahindra once said in a televised broadcast in 2013. The man who set the foundations for one of the best-known business houses in India died early Wednesday (April 12, 2023) at his home at the age of 99.
Mahindra was a proponent of changes to labour laws and the Companies Act, and for financial reforms. He publicly stated that he was never afraid of international competition but maintained that policies ought not to be changed overnight.
Born in Shimla, the man who would later graduate from the Ivy League Wharton spent his early years in Kolkata, according to officials who knew him. In 1947, he joined Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and became chairman in 1963, later stepping down to let nephew Anand Mahindra take charge in 2012.
Ravi Kulkarni, senior corporate lawyer with Khaitan & Co, who knew him for 50 years and served on the board of M&M, said, “He was a phenomenal human being, a corporate colossus, and while there was no one like him, he was also a great businessman and deeply connected to all the workers in his firms.”
In his later years, the elder Mahindra largely stayed in his home in South Mumbai and while everyone in the city’s business circles knew him, few had seen or met him in the past decade.
Those who knew him well and worked closely with him, describe Mahindra as a philanthropist of a high order. Roma Balwani, a former senior communications executive at the group, said, “He never wanted to speak about charity but was always keen to know about the giving back the company was doing.”
Mahindra had a keen sense of humour and was quick-witted, recalls industrialist Harsh Goenka, whose father was a friend of Mahindra’s. “A visionary, an ethical businessman, he was somebody who was revered by all,” said Goenka, who used to play golf with him.
Sometime after 1991, a very senior American official was visiting Mumbai and the only leading industrialists invited to meet the official were Ratan Tata, Adi Godrej, Rahul Bajaj, Keshub Mahindra and Harsh Goenka. Just before they met the official, Mahindra said, “Rahul, you go last,” leading the others to smile because Bajaj was known for his penchant for long speeches.
He was also as single-minded as he was quick-witted.
Kulkarni noted that regardless of the odds, he never settled for a compromise. “In circa 1977 when the Janata government came to power after the Emergency, there was a ridiculous ceiling of monthly compensation Rs 7,500 to directors and many business leaders were upset and Little & Co (Kulkarni’s firm then) were the advisers to him in those days.”
Champion of empowerment
While many retired executives actually still call the shots from the backroom, Mahindra truly washed his hands of the group's day-to-day functioning when Anand Mahindra took over. It wasn't just optics or lip service for the press. “While he was chairman emeritus, he never interfered in company matters, and Anand was empowered in the truest sense," Balwani said.
Later, when he stepped down, he passed the leadership baton on to his nephew. “It’s absolutely unusual how he handed over the reins,” said Kulkarni. “He never went to the board room. He would attend office for his own personal discipline and meet people but just never interfered in any issue and even the papers never went to him.”
Kulkarni said, “My last meeting was in March 2020. We spent over an hour chatting and he was as curious as ever. He was wanting to know more about how politics at the state level were unfolding. His mind was all there… Except for his other health problems, he was sharp as ever.”
The tycoon who only recently was ranked as being one of the nation's oldest billionaires was also old-world when it came to his personal profile. "He was very proper when it came to protocol and business etiquette and would often help me with my tie knot and give tips on getting my colour combinations on suits right. He was also a stickler for punctuality and would be in the boardroom at exactly 9 am if he said 9 am," Kulkarni recalled.
Finally, if his big bets half a century ago on tractors and SUVs have paid off in spades and continue to do so, the veteran tycoon also knew that defeats were part of life and he handled those with equal grace. When he was chairman of Indian Aluminium and there was a proposal to merge it with M&M, he went before the government secretary committee himself to get permission because of the Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices Act and other laws that existed at the time. "The government shot it down and Mahindra said yes, I anticipated that it would happen, but that’s part of life,” Kulkarni said. "That was him."
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