The story
Founded by Jagdish Chandra Mahindra on Oct 2, 1945, in Ludhiana.1
Mahindra & Mahindra was founded as a steel trading company on 2 October 1945, in Ludhiana as Mahindra & Mohammed by brothers Kailash Chandra Mahindra and Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, along with Malik Ghulam Muhammad. Anand Mahindra, the present Chairman of Mahindra Group, is the grandson of Jagdish Chandra Mahindra. In 1948, Ghulam Mohammed decided to move to the newly formed Pakistan.The Mahindras were left with stationary and company stamp that said M&M. They did not have the financial resources to change the name. Since there were two Mahindra brothers in the business they decided to change the company name to Mahindra & Mahindra.
Beginnings with Jeep
They eventually saw a business opportunity in expanding into manufacturing and selling larger multi utility vehicle (MUVs) and started assembling under the licence of Willys Jeep in India. Soon, M&M was established as the Jeep manufacturer in India and later commenced manufacturing light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and agricultural tractors. Jeep was bought by American Motors Corporation in 1970; Jeeps continued to be built by Mahindra under licence from AMC and, in turn, under Chrysler after Chrysler bought AMC in 1987.
Acquisitions
In 1984, in an early overseas expansion, Mahindra acquired Greek vehicle maker Balkania, which, until then, produced some Mahindra models under license.
In 1999, Mahindra purchased 100% of Gujarat Tractors from the Government of Gujarat, and in 2017, Mahindra renamed it Gromax Agri Equipment Limited as part of its new brand strategy, and the models continue to be sold as Trakstar.
In 2007, M&M acquired Punjab Tractor Limited (PTL), making it the world's largest tractor manufacturer. Subsequent to this takeover, the former PTL was merged into M&M and transformed into the Swaraj division of Mahindra & Mahindra in 2009.
Over the past few years, the company has taken an interest in new industries and foreign markets. In 2008, they entered the two-wheeler industry by taking over Kinetic Motors in India.
In 2010, M&M took a 55% stake in the REVA Electric Car Company and in 2016, they renamed it Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd after taking 100% ownership.
In 2011 Mahindra acquired a majority stake of South Korea's SsangYong Motor, turning it into a subsidiary. In December 2020, after Mahindra stopped funding it, SsangYong entered into receivership, de facto no longer being a Mahindra subsidiary from that point on, and de jure after November 2022, when a KG Group-led consortium completed the acquisition procedures for a controlling stake, moving SsangYong out of receivership.
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In October 2014, Mahindra acquired a 51% controlling stake in Peugeot Motocycles and a 100% controlling stake in October 2019. In May 2015, Mahindra acquired a 33.33% stake in Japanese tractor manufacturer Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery (MAM), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, renaming it as Mitsubishi Mahindra Agricultural Machinery.
In December 2015, Mahindra and its affiliate Tech Mahindra, through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), agreed to buy a 76.06% stake in Italian car designer Pininfarina, for €168 million.
In March 2016, Mahindra acquired 35% of Finland-based Sampo Rosenlew, entering the combine harvester business, subsequently increasing its stake in the company to 49.04% in December 2019.
In January 2017, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd acquired a 75.1 equity stake in Hisarlar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonym Şirketi (Hisarlar), a farm equipment company, marking its entry into Turkey and in September 2017 acquired another Turkish tractor and foundry business Erkunt Traktor Sanayii AS for ₹800 crore.
In January 2018, Mahindra announced its foray into the sprayers business through the acquisition of a 26% equity stake in M.I.T.R.A. Agro Equipments Pvt. Ltd, a Maharashtra-based AgTech company (MITRA). In March 2020, Mahindra further increased its stake in the company to 39%.
In February 2018, Mahindra acquired a minority stake of 22.9% percent in Carnot Technologies. Carnot Technologies owns and operates smart car firm CarSense.
In May 2018, Mahindra signed a share subscription agreement to acquire up to 10% share capital of Canada's IT firm Resson Aerospace Corporation. Resson has developed a system that captures and interprets images to give farmers information about the state of their fields and crops.
In June 2019, Mahindra purchased an 11.25% stake in Switzerland-based agro technology firm Gamaya. The acquisition enabled Mahindra to further develop and deploy next-generation farming capabilities such as precision agriculture and digital farming technologies.
In December 2023, Mahindra & Mahindra acquired a 60.01% stake in Emergent Solren Private Limited, now a solar power generator subsidiary of Mahindra Holdings Limited, for ₹288.05 crore.
Licensed production and joint ventures
In November 2017, Mahindra signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement with Belgium-based Dewulf, a supplier of a full line of potato and root crop machinery. Under the agreement, Mahindra will manufacture and market potato planting equipment in India, for which the co-branded planter is developed.
In April 2010, Mahindra and Renault ended its joint venture which operated from 2005 onwards, with Mahindra buying out Renault's stake. Renault continues to license and supply key components such as engines and transmissions to Mahindra & Mahindra.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Ford Motor Company (Ford) first formed a joint venture to manufacture Ford cars in India, Mahindra Ford India. The JV manufactured its cars including the Ford Escort, at Nashik factory of Mahindra. In 2003, Ford increased its stake in the company to 72% and renamed it Ford India.
In October 2019, Mahindra entered into a joint venture with Ford by establishing Ford India in which Mahindra & Mahindra acquired a controlling 51% stake.
In January 2021, Mahindra ended its collaboration with Ford owing to global economic and business conditions caused by the pandemic.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mahindra & Mahindra, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5
