Anand Mahindra Recalls Selfless Gold Donations By Indian Women During 1962 War

Industrialist Anand Mahindra on Thursday took to X to share a nostalgic memory from his childhood, when Indian women selflessly donated gold and jewellery to support the country during the 1962 war with China. 

Anand Mahindra's post came in response to a tweet highlighting that Indian women collectively hold more gold than women in 10 countries combined. 

The original post listed the figures:

Check out the post here:

Impressive statistic.

It brought back to me a vivid childhood memory:

Back in 1962, during the war with China, the government created a National Defence Fund and appealed to citizens to donate gold and jewellery for the defence effort. From information available on the net I… https://t.co/VR9ydAacOc

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 23, 2025

Reacting to the statistics, Anand Mahindra wrote, "Impressive statistic. It brought back to me a vivid childhood memory." 

He recalled, "Back in 1962, during the war with China, the government created a National Defence Fund and appealed to citizens to donate gold and jewellery for the defence effort. From information available on the net I saw that gold worth thousands of crores in today's prices were collected for the fund. According to online sources, Punjab alone, apparently donated 252 kg gold." 

He shared a personal anecdote from that time, saying, "I clearly recall, as a seven-year-old, standing on the street in Mumbai (Bombay, at the time) with my mother when government trucks drove by, megaphones blaring appeals for citizens to donate their jewellery for the nation's defence.
I can still picture her quietly gathering some of her gold bangles and necklaces, placing them in a cloth thaila, and handing them to the volunteers on the truck." 

Reflecting on that memory, the Mahindra Group Chairman wondered if such large-scale voluntary acts of patriotism and trust could still happen today. "Would voluntary acts of that scale, spirit and trust still happen in today's world?" he asked. 

He concluded writing, "That memory of 1962 reminds me that a country's national resilience ultimately depends not just on policy tools, but on the collective will of its people."