Keshub Mahindra, 99, uncle of Anand Mahindra and Chairman Emeritus of the Mahindra Group passed away on Wednesday.

From an agency for Willy’s Jeeps in India in the 1940s to helming a $12-billion conglomerate with automobiles, financial services, logistics, real estate, hospitality and defence equipment under its portfolio — it’s been quite a journey for any person. Keshub was the man who had seen it all.

Born in 1923 in Shimla and graduated from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in the US, Keshub looked upon JRD Tata and Nanaji Deshmukh as his mentors. The barebones of his career — joining the firm that his father and uncle had co-founded in 1947 and then leading the group as its chairman from 1963 to 2012 when he passed on the baton to his nephew Anand Mahindra — doesn’t quite capture the highs and lows of a tenure that ran parallel to India’s economic growth.

Keshub Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Keshub Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. | Photo Credit: PAUL NORONHA

In a nutshell

In 1947, when the government of the day was brainstorming about the need for an indigenous automobile industry, all Mahindra could think about was that he didn’t know anything about the industry. At that time, there were only Premier Automobiles, Hindustan Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) in India, the latter being a steel trading company that then ventured into assembling Willy’s Jeeps.

With the government leaning on them, the company had to make everything from scratch, since there were no suppliers. Thus started the journey. Mahindra had a key role to play in the group’s collaborations with global giants such as Mitsubishi, British Telecom and Ford.

At the time that M&M ventured into the manufacturing of automobiles, the Tata group was already a pioneer in the field and was innovating on its own without any collaborations. In an interview with an automobile magazine in 2007, Keshub said: “I always tell Ratan — nothing wrong with following the elder brother.”

Tributes, condolences

As news of his demise filtered in early on Wednesday, tributes and praises poured in from all over. Keshub’s nephew Anand Mahindra kept it simple on social media. “A century of uncompromising integrity and values. We will not stray from that path,” he tweeted.

In a media statement, he said, “Keshub Mahindra was and will always remain a source of inspiration for me and the entire 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.”

Former M&M executive Pawan Goenka, who was among the first to tweet about him passing away, said, “The industrial world has lost one of the tallest personalities today. Shri Keshub Mahindra had no match.”

Harsh Goenka tweeted, “Keshub Mahindra’s life was an embodiment of rare virtues — a perfect gentleman, moral values beyond compare, a patriot, a man of values and principles.”

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said, “Pained by the demise of the former chair of Mahindra Group Keshub Mahindra Ji. He was an exceptional business leader who shaped the Indian economy and transformed the Mahindra Group into a diversified conglomerate.”

Apart from his nephew, Keshub also leaves behind three daughters and seven grandchildren.

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