Corporate India lost one of its titans on Wednesday morning.
Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman Emeritus Keshub Mahindra died in Mumbai on Wednesday, reports said. He was 99.
Born on October 9, 1923, Mahindra graduated from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
He joined the company in 1947, the year India became independent, and became its chairman in 1963. He remained in the position till 2012, when he passed on the baton to his nephew Anand Mahindra.
With a net worth of about $1.2 billion, Mahindra was India’s oldest billionaire. As the chairman for nearly five decades, he transformed Mahindra & Mahindra into a multinational company, with interests in automobile manufacturer as well as other businesses like IT, real estate, financial services and hospitality.
As a leading member of Corporate India, he was a part of several government committees, including the Sachar Commission on Company Law and Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices and the Central Advisory Council of Industries.
Under Dr Manmohan Singh, Mahindra was a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry between 2004 and 2010.
Tributes pour in for the late industrialist
Industry leaders condoled the death of Mahindra.
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) President Vinod Aggarwal said in a statement: “The Indian automobile industry has lost one of its pioneers. His leadership in the early years of the journey of the Indian auto industry had led to India being recognised as an important player globally and also helped in India becoming a manufacturing hub for the automobile sector.”
Pawan Goenka, the chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, tweeted: “The industrial world has lost one of the tallest personalities today. Shri Keshub Mahindra had no match; the nicest person I had the privilege of knowing.”
In his condolence message, industrialist Gautam Singhania fondly remembered Mahindra. He tweeted: “Keshubhji lived a glorious life guiding the growth of Mahindra group for nearly five decades.”
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