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Prefer to become most trusted brand, not the richest: Anand Mahindra

For the $14.4 billion Mahindra group, that has presence in over 100 countries, employing more than 144,000 people, enabling people to realise their dreams would be a priority.

BMW MINI Cooper S
BMW MINI Cooper S

Anand Mahindra wants his farm equipment-to-aerospace group to strive to be among the most trusted global brands than compete to attain the size of the Tatas or Reliance. The vice chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra regrets the lack of trust on corporates across the world.

"If you look across the globe, the protest like 'occupy Wall Street' ... people tend to mistrust corporates...It is unfortunate," Mr Mahindra said. He said for the $14.4 billion Mahindra group, that has presence in over 100 countries, employing more than 144,000 people, enabling people to realise their dreams would be a priority.

Asked where he would like to see the group as compared to homegrown peers like the Tatas or Reliance in the global scenario, he said: "We have never measured our success in terms of size or how rich we are. For us size doesn't matter. What matters to us is that we want to be the company that is admired by people saying we enabled them to grow.”

"Ten years from now, we want to be among the most trusted brands in the world. We want to be the company that people say it is the company they admire, it is tomorrow's company and we will continue with that intent".


Mahindra further said the group could easily settle for being the "most trusted brand in India and the world" than being "the richest".

On a comparison in terms of revenue, the Tata Group had  $83.3 billion in 2010-11, while that of Reliance Industries was over $58 billion as per information on their respective  websites.

The Mahindra Group had last year adopted a new philosophy 'Rise', which Mahindra had described as a "rallying cry which enables people to unify around shared ideas, values, principles, a way of life or a common goal. It is a call to see opportunities where others can’t and to set an example for the world".

On the future roadmap of the group, Mahindra said the group has not identified any particular division to be the biggest although the automotive and farm equipment sector (AFES) continues to lead now with 50 per cent of the group's total revenue coming from it.

"Few years back many people thought that new age sector like IT would dominate but our AFES sector has shown that by being dynamic and innovative you can still keep growing," he added.

Mahindra, however, declined to commit when asked which sector could be the group's biggest driver saying:

"We don't set goals that which division of the group should be the biggest. May the best sector win, we do not limit any of them  but we set audacious goals for each of them."

The Mahindra group has presence in different sectors, spanning from tractors and automobiles to IT, infrastructure, hospitality, retail and aerospace among others.