How Mahindra & Mahindra came to

dominate the Indian automotive industry

Article URL: http://www.forbesindia.com/article/boardroom/how-mahindra-mahindra-came-to-
dominate-the-indian-automotive-industry/39141/1

Summary: Ever since the joining of Pawan Goenka the Mahindra and
Mahindra company has seen many reforms, with revenues increasing upto
25 times and profits increasing about 55 times over a period of 21 years.
India’s economic liberalisation and competition from global players had
essentially pushed Mahindra to the rural markets from which it had to fight
back with new products. Initially due to lack of resources and lacking ability
to invest large amounts in R&D, company did face threats from competition,
but gradually in 2000 Bolero emerged as the first SUV developed in house
with a meagre of investment, which became a huge success, continuing till
date. Owing to the growing competition in the urban market, the company
came up with Scorpio, for which resources were gathered form dispersed
locations to cut the costs, including UK consultants & Austrian designers. They
took their chances with an emerging Korean company for body building and
a joint venture of Ford-Mahindra for paint shop which cost them half of what
otherwise would be. With the launch of the vehicle in 2002, the sales picked
up dramatically but the still continued improving upon the product. They
even adhered to sell the vehicle at a 2% loss initially just to get the rural image
of the brand out of the minds of the public. Inspired by Chrysler Motor’s
research facility in Auburn and Xerox’s PARC Mahindra Research Valley was
conceptualised to give best environment for R&D in the auto industry. They
focused on creating an innovative risk taking environment promoting cross
pollination of ideas, which fostered a culture of positive thinking and growth.
All these strategies led to significant improvement in the sales of the
Mahindra vehicles and eventually it generated the push necessary to enter
uncharted waters of tractors and buses and trucks. They even turned global
when M&M acquired SsangYong Motors and begin developing four new
engine designs in 2010. They are focusing more on the make in India
campaign as most of the automotive technology they use is developed
outside the country, so they lack that competitive edge. For achieving the
same, governments help is needed for more research in colleges and
institutions such as DRDO.
Bus Sales on High Growth this Fiscal
Article URL:https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/bus-sales-on-high-growth-lane-this-
fiscal/article25020626.ece

Summary: Decrease in orders from State Transport Undertaking (STUs), the

volumes of domestic buses being sold fell 14 percent to 84658 units in FY-18,
and analysts are projecting a growth in volumes in FY-19. A major reason was
uncertainity in implementing the bus body code. There was a growth from
last year’s volume up by 19% to 41440 units, as compared to 34882 last year.
Increased focus on infrastructure development, rapid urbanisation, low
penetration of public transport and affordable housing projects across the
country are some of the key factors for the growth in the sector. The bus
segment also benefited from healthy demand from online aggregators and
the staff carrier segment. As Indian public transport is yet to reach its
optimum potential, theres need for more buses. The bus segment’s
growth outlook remains favourable over the medium term driven by
the Centre’s focus on improving urban as well as rural transportation
and initiatives such as Smart Cities. There are still favourable
conditions for buses as the Centre is focusing on improving urban
and rural transportation and also smart cities initiative is promoting
the same. The presence of old buses in the fleet of STUs which need
replacement very soon also goes in favour of new buses, but
financing still remains a matter of concern however.
Digital Marketing: An Opportunity or A
Challenge For Corporate Social
Responsibility Performance
(In Special Refrence To Mahindra &
Mahindra India Limited)
Summary: The paper presented the various tactics adopted by big players
like Mahindra & Mahindra to expand their advertisement base in the
country, by encapsulating the CSR activities in the adverts. Mahindra
India ltd was able to come up with socially responsible yet profitable ad
campaigns due to digitalization of marketing. Mahindra’s first priority for
being socially responsible was to produce quality and socially responsible
product, secondly to responsible employee involvement to serve
reasonably and finally be responsible and committed towards society
around it. Result of that enabled Mahindra to receive R+GRI checked
rating for its sustainability record award constantly for 2007-8 and 2008-
9 being among few Indian companies to do that. M&M India Ltd. has
occupied top position in the race of best CSR performing organization in
India many times in last recent four years. Let us take a look over last four
years ranking. There are quite a few good companies performing CSR in
India, but majority are operating out of government pressure and public
pressure, digitization thus becomes a challenge as information is what
people want and thus they need to perform to show it. Amidst this chaos,
Mahindra has proven itself to be keeping CSR in its philanthropy. The
paper followed the past 5years research done on Mahindra’s ad
campaigns, journals and e-resources. Mahindra started its self-
encouraged contribution in education sector since 1954 by establishing
K.C Mahindra Education trust beyond any compulsion of government or
any authority. For environmental aspect, M&M has not only stepped for
improvement of environment outside but also prevention from
degradation making internal improvements within the process in order to
prevent possible pollution and environmental disturbance. Various health
camps are conducted being collaborated with NGOs and some
independent health camps for kids, women, poor and needy section of the
society. Not only independently but also in collaboration to government,
various development projects are successfully accomplished by M&M.
various programmes for the welfare of farmers to empower agriculture in
country and to those who are involved in it all launched.
How do children travel to school in urban
India? A cross-sectional study of 5,842
children in Hyderabad
Summary: Given the number of school related trips in India,
the choice of transportation modes used is likely to have major
public health implications. Studies in high income countries
show that distance to school is one of the most important
determinants of transportation mode. For the research a cross-
sectional survey using a twostage stratified cluster sampling
design was done. Data about schools were obtained from the
District education office. Associations between travel mode and
distance to school was examined using logistic regression. From
the study it was observed that most of the cases where motorised
transport was used was associated with greater distances. Some
were even considered under RTC as they walked some distance
and used bus at the same time. Walking was inversely
proportional to distance. Children travelling alone were seen to
be more likely to walk or use bicycle. Also, children studying in
government school were observed to be more likely to walk than
those of private schools. This study found that most children in
Hyderabad (57 %) walk or cycle (6 %) to school. Distance to
school was strongly associated with the use of motorised
transport. Children attending private schools travelled almost
1km further and were more likely to travel by car (5 %) instead
of those attending semi-private schools (0.2 %). Compared to
children living within 1km of school, children living 2–3km from
school were over three times as likely to cycle to school.
Business strategy of automotive and farm
equipment sector of the Mahindra &
Mahindra Group of India

Summary: This paper traced the historical evolution and

growth trajectory of the automotive and farm equipment sector,
which is a very significant entity of the Mahindra & Mahindra
(M&M) group. It focused on the factors and framework that led
to the changes in the nature of Mahindra group. Greiner curve
model was applied for interpreting the evolutionary growth and
explaining the different phases. Mahindra observed its growth
mainly due to innovation paired with collaboration. Mahindra
grew adhering to the different phases of Greiner: Phase one is
growth through creativity. M&M embarked with very radical
product ideas, and has always been the one to innovate and bring
new products to the consumers. The second phase of the Greiner
curve deals with the idea of directed growth. the organization
grows, control becomes more complex by the mere accretion of
numbers. The third phase of the Greiner model emerges with the
need to effectively manage the size to which the organization has
grown. A crisis of control emerges when top management finds
it hard to let go and tries to retain control while the autonomous
mid-level managers act without coordinating with others. In 4th
phase, there is a strong need for the organization to refocus on
working together for attaining the organizational objectives
through critical success parameters. An alliance in 5th phase is
understood as the collaborative efforts with an external
perspective. M&M life cycle is not just to point out typical
characteristics but also to help organizations learn how to
address the challenges and anticipate future problems.
Innovation through Internationalization: A
Case Study Analysis of Indian Firms

Summary: The liberalization of Indian economy allowed

Indian economy to open for the world. As the foreign players
entered the Indian market, competitiveness increased thus
giving rise to few Indian companies to develop their products
according the world standards and go international. Prime
Minister is also focusing on the policies to help Indian firms to
grow in international markets. But not many of the Indian
firms could make it big in global market due to, lack of world
class infrastructure, complicated government policies and
corruption. Indian firms rely on strategies such as mergers and
acquisitions, strategic alliances etc to grow inorganically. For
instance Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) initially started
exporting its vehicles to countries like Yugoslavia, Indonesia and
African countries which were like Indian market back then. As
they were not as powerful as other brands such as Tata, so
instead of acquiring brands they decided to go into alliances with
global players such as Citroen, Saab etc. But the more successful
strategic alliances of M&M are with Mitsubishi and an Australian
aircraft company. With the help of their strategic alliance with
Mitsubishi Agri Machinery, M&M designs and manufacture
world standard tractors. Apart from this, source of raw materials
also plays a crucial role in the same, for instance, Mahindra aims
at reducing their supplier by dealing with one dealer for various
components, which ultimately gives the vendor economies of
scale to cut down production costs.
E-buses gaining traction on Indian roads
Article URL: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/e-buses-gaining-
traction-on-indian-roads/article26713920.ece

Summary: Increased demand from state transport corporations has

risen the supply side of buses, with new players stepping in the market
on a regular basis. Olectra for instance provides with new electric
buses and is already in the race to supply the same to 14 states and
cities and is looking to supply 125 buses in next two years. The auto
industry giant Tata Motors is also out in front in e-buses. It has got
orders from six cities for 255 buses and 50 of these are already plying
the roads. A public transport revolution is shifting into high gear in
India. Bengaluru has called for 1,500 buses. In Hyderabad, 40 Olectra
buses are driving between the airport and different points in the city
and there are plans for more soon. The electric revolution on Indian
roads has been a long time coming. But a push came from the
government, with Fame-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of
Electric Vehicles in India, Phase II). Fame-II decided to focus on public
transport and has thrown in ₹10,000 crore as subsidies to buy 7,000
buses over three years. Tata and Ashok Leyland are the industry giants
which have provided over 80 per cent of buses plying our roads. Also
in the race are the Mahindra Group and VE Commercial Vehicles
(VECV), a Eicher Motors-and-Volvo tie-up . VECV, which has 20 per
cent of the conventional-engine bus market, hopes to make an even
bigger dent in the e-bus segment. Chinese portray an ideal picture of
what electric buses can achieve, but matching that level may be a
problem owing to the unmatchable battery manufacturing prices in
China. This is thus a much needed transport revolution for saving the
environment as well.
The role of quality assessment for
development of sustainable bus service in
mid-sized cities of India: A case study of
Patna

Summary: Transportation is the mean to satisfy user’s

mobility needs. Public transport is set to achieve high on
sustainability measures as it has lower economic cost, lesser
environmental damage and social equity as compared to
personalized vehicles. Transit operation in urban areas has
been observed to have contributed significantly to the
reduction of traffic congestion and pollution, providing
alternate means of travel and in a general improvement in the
quality of life of people. In developing countries like India, rapid
urbanization led to an increase in a number of the personalized
vehicles, increased travel demand but, lack of commensurate
comprehensive transportation planning in urban areas has put
tremendous pressure on the existing inadequate and out of
date transport infrastructure. In order to overcome such
alarming situation, improved public transport both in
qualitative and quantitative terms has been recommended from
all quarters. The study assessed the existing ‘quality of services’
of midi buses operating in Patna, India. TOPSIS method was
used to analyse a total of 402 refined questionnaires. The
findings were used to identify and understand the shortcomings
of the existing public bus service and provide the responsible
authorities and bus operators with suggestions to enhance the
‘quality of service’ and attract more users to public bus
service. The study justified the need of improving ‘qualitative’
aspects of existing bus services.
M&M plans over 35 new offerings in
commercial vehicles this year
Article
url://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6774952
6.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_
medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Summary: Mahindra aims at sustaining double digit

growth in 2019 with the introduction of 30-35 new
products across different segments to compete with the
competitors and get a hold in the customer base. Eyeing
a 8-10% market share, it recently launched its Furio the
intermediate commercial vehicle. 21 different products
are lined up under the Furio range with a total investment
of nearly 600 crore, designed by the Italian design house
Pininfarina. Company has hoped to bridge the gap with
the Furio and expand the addressable market. The
product has been carefully designed and developed
keeping in mind the customer needs and insights with
technologically advanced techniques. Mahindra
registered a growth of 25% in commercial vehicle sales in
April to November of FY-19; a fourth of overall
commercial vehicle space. But it remains a modest player
in intermediate and heavy commercial vehicle segment,
which is a big thrust area for 2019 with Blazo X and Furio
ranges. With growing volumes, the company has already
managed to break into positive EBIDTA for several
months and it is on the verge of annual break even in the
coming year. They even used bold marketing moves to
promote Furio and differentiate it from the competitors.
FAME II to help accelerate EV launches:
Mahindra
Article URL:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/68240582.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_cam
paign=cppst

Summary: With the government clearing a 10000 crore FAME II

program, Mahindra is planning to invest in Electrical vehicle
segment. Currently selling e20plus and eVerito as electrical
vehicles, the company has set up a manufacturing hub in
Bengaluru with investing 100 crore in the project. With a total
outlay of 900 crore, the company is set to invest in CHakan plant
as well. Company plans on promoting Make in india by making
EVs as soon as possible, and is looking at localising the motor,
the power electronics and the battery as well. In the 2018 auto
show, M&M had unveiled six electric concept vehicles and
models. The company had displayed e-KUV100, an electric
version of its compact vehicle KUV100; UDO, a concept two-
seater electric mobility pod; ATOM, a last-mile urban mobility
concept vehicle; and a lithium ion battery-powered three-
wheeler Treo that has already hit the markets. It had also
displayed e-COSMO electric bus and e2o NXT, which is a
refreshed version of its electric small car e2oPlus. It has even
launched various schemes to promote the same and encourage
faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by offering
incentives providing charging infrastructure as well.