We set bold targets: Mahindra Group's Anish Shah

Anish Shah, CEO, Mahindra & Mahindra Image: Mexy Xavier 

Anish Shah, 55, is the first in three generations to take over a group with interests ranging from automobiles to information technology and financial services to real estate. While he has managed to revive the auto business and seen market cap surge, one of his tasks has been to navigate his relationship with the promoters. Excerpts from an interview:

Q. As the first non-family person in this role at the Mahindra Group, how did you prepare for this rather sprawling responsibility? How did you approach this set of unique demands and challenges?

I would say there was adequate preparation time, as I will go back to five years prior to my taking over in 2020. At that time, there was no discussion of this role and I came in as group strategy head. What that role did was give me a very good insight into the group and its businesses, and since I would work with multiple businesses, there was a clear sense of what was working and what was not. And also a good understanding of the culture of the group and the people and a strong set of relationships.

The immediate thought process was to identify what strengths we have. It is easy sometimes to forget the strengths in a time of challenge and how do we get back to harnessing those strengths—the entrepreneurial spirit, the discipline we have had on capital allocation and the ability to execute. And how do we remind everyone in the group that we have those strengths. 

The second part was to be very clear on ensuring that the culture of the group is going to stay—especially as the first non-family member takes over, the question on everyone’s mind would be does this mean we are changing who we are. I loved the culture of the group be the values, the respect for everyone and the meritocracy.