The Mahindra Group of companies started with steel, pivoted to jeeps, and grew into a $25 billion+ multinational that the world’s farmers, drivers, and tech companies rely on. Founded in 1945, it now leads the global tractor market, dominates India’s SUV segment, and runs one of the country’s largest IT services businesses.
This blog breaks down how the Mahindra Group of companies built that dominance, from its founding to its current presence across ten industries.
Mahindra Group of Companies at a Glance
Before we explore each business in detail, here’s a quick snapshot of the Mahindra Group.
- Founded: 1945
- Founders: J.C. Mahindra, K.C. Mahindra, and Ghulam Mohammad
- Headquarters: Mumbai, India
- Group Turnover: $25 billion+
- Global Presence: 100+ countries
- Workforce: 324,000+ employees
- Manufacturing Plants: 71 worldwide
- Current Chairman: Anand Mahindra
- Core Businesses: Automotive, Farm Equipment, Financial Services, Technology, Hospitality, Logistics, Real Estate, Renewable Energy
From Steel Trader to Global Conglomerate: The Mahindra Story
The Mahindra Group did not begin with SUVs or tractors. It began with steel.
On October 2, 1945, brothers J.C. Mahindra and K.C. Mahindra, along with their partner Malik Ghulam Muhammad, founded a steel trading firm called Mahindra & Mohammed in Ludhiana. Both Mahindra brothers brought rare credentials. J.C. had served as India’s First Steel Controller, and K.C. had chaired India’s Supply Mission in Washington. That international exposure shaped the company’s ambition from day one.
When India gained independence in 1947 and the partition split the subcontinent, Ghulam Muhammad moved to Pakistan, where he later became Pakistan’s first Finance Minister. Then the company renamed itself Mahindra & Mahindra in 1948. That same year, it spotted an opportunity that would define its future: assembling Willys Jeeps for a newly independent India that desperately needed rugged, practical transport.
From those first 75 Jeeps assembled in Bombay, the company built an automotive identity rooted in utility and durability.
- Mahindra & Mahindra went public in 1955 and was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1956.
- By 1963, it entered tractor manufacturing through a partnership with International Harvester, a move timed perfectly with India’s Green Revolution.
- By 1983, Mahindra had become India’s largest-selling tractor brand, a position it has held ever since.
- In 1986, Mahindra entered IT services through a joint venture with British Telecom, which eventually became Tech Mahindra.
- In 1991, it launched what would grow into Mahindra Finance, today India’s largest rural NBFC.
- When Anand Mahindra became Managing Director in 1997, a new chapter began with global acquisitions, a bold redesign of the brand, and the 2002 launch of the Scorpio, India’s first wholly indigenously designed SUV.
Today, the Mahindra Group operates across 20+ industries, including auto, IT, finance, energy, and aerospace.
The Core Businesses of The Mahindra Group of Companies
1. Farm Equipment: The World’s Largest Tractor Company
Mahindra’s farm equipment business is its most iconic achievement globally. The group holds the title of the world’s largest tractor manufacturer by volume, a position earned through decades of rural distribution, affordable pricing, product reliability, and integrated financing through its NBFC arm, enabling large-scale adoption that competitors struggle to match.
Key Details:
- Mahindra sold 46,404 tractors in India in April 2026 alone, a 20% year-on-year growth.
- Total tractor sales, including exports, reached 48,411 units in April 2026, up 21% year-on-year.
- Exports grew 30% year-on-year in April 2026, reaching 2,007 units.
- Mahindra EPC Irrigation posted its highest-ever revenue of ₹315.79 crore in FY26, a 14.5% increase, with profit after tax jumping 76%.
- The Swaraj brand, acquired through Punjab Tractors in 2007, strengthens Mahindra’s reach in the lower-horsepower tractor segment across rural India.
2. Automotive: SUVs, EVs, and Commercial Vehicles
The Mahindra Thar, Scorpio, and XUV series have made the Mahindra Group one of India’s most recognized automotive brands. Their SUV position is built on rugged, utility-focused vehicles designed for Indian terrain. But the group’s automotive ambition now stretches well beyond the domestic SUV market into electric vehicles and commercial transport.
Key Details:
- Mahindra sold 56,331 SUVs in India in April 2026, an 8% year-on-year increase.
- Total auto volumes, including exports, hit 94,627 units in April 2026, a 14% rise.
- Exports jumped 47% year-on-year, reaching 4,970 vehicles.
- The Trucks and Buses Business (MTBD + SML Mahindra) sold 3,011 vehicles in April 2026, up 11% year-on-year.
- Mahindra Electric Automobile Limited handles the group’s EV operations, producing the BE 6 and XEV 9e on a dedicated electric platform.
- Global investors poured ₹1,925 crore into Mahindra’s EV subsidiary in 2023, validating the group’s electric strategy.
- M&M’s patent portfolio grew 20 times in a decade, from 56 patents in FY16 to 1,334 in FY26, with 60% in automotive innovation. This makes it one of the most famous Indian brands.
3. Tech Mahindra: IT Services Built for a Global Market
Tech Mahindra traces its roots to a 1986 joint venture with British Telecom. Today it is a leading global IT services company with over 147,000 professionals working across 90+ countries for more than 1,100 clients. Its focus spans AI, cloud, telecom, and enterprise digital transformation.
Tech Mahindra maintains its global position through multi-year enterprise contracts, telecom domain specialization, and high client retention, ensuring predictable revenue and long-term client lock-in.
Key Details:
- Tech Mahindra recorded revenue of ₹56,815 crore in FY26, up 7.2% year-on-year.
- New deal wins hit a five-year high with a total contract value of $3,794 million in FY26, up 41.6%.
- Profit after tax reached ₹4,811 crore in FY26, a 13.2% increase.
- The company declared ₹51 per share in total dividends for FY26—the highest ever.
- Key wins include a multi-year AI-led transformation deal with a major European telecom operator and a strategic partnership with a Fortune 500 energy company.
- Tech Mahindra launched IndusLLM, an eight-billion-parameter language model that supports agentic AI in Hindi, aimed at democratizing education through AI.
- S&P Global placed Tech Mahindra in the top 1% of IT services companies globally for ESG performance in its 2026 Sustainability Yearbook.
4. Mahindra Finance: India’s Largest Rural Non-Banking Financial Company
Mahindra Finance’s scale comes from serving over 12 million customers across 500,000+ villages, deep rural penetration, and bundled vehicle financing solutions, making it difficult for urban-focused lenders to compete.
Key Details:
- Mahindra Finance’s profit after tax grew 19% year-on-year in FY26, reaching ₹2,782 crore.
- Its business AUM (assets under management) grew 12% to ₹1,34,096 crore.
- The company’s non-vehicle portfolio, including SME lending, mortgages, and leasing, grew 32% year-on-year.
- Long-term debt ratings: AAA (Stable) from CRISIL, CARE Ratings, India Ratings, and Brickwork.
- Subsidiaries include Mahindra Rural Housing Finance, Mahindra Insurance Brokers, Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund, and Mahindra Finance USA LLC.
5. Mahindra Holidays and Resorts: Leading Leisure Tourism
Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited, established in 1996, operates the Club Mahindra brand, one of India’s best-known leisure travel memberships. It gives the Mahindra Group a direct presence in India’s fast-growing domestic tourism market.
Key Details:
- Club Mahindra operates resorts across India and internationally, offering members access to holiday experiences across destinations.
- The business targets India’s growing middle class seeking planned, affordable vacation memberships, ensuring consistent customer retention and repeat usage.
- Mahindra Holidays represents the group’s early bet on aspirational lifestyle products, one that has paid off as India’s domestic travel market has expanded significantly.
6. Mahindra Lifespaces: Sustainable Urban Development
Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited is the group’s real estate arm, focused on residential and integrated business city developments across India.
Key Details:
- Mahindra Lifespaces was India’s first real estate company to receive a Green Building certification from the Indian Green Building Council.
- Its integrated business cities, branded as Mahindra World City, operate in Chennai and Jaipur, housing global manufacturing and services companies.
- The business aligns with the group’s larger ESG commitments, building communities, not just housing stock.
7. Mahindra Susten: Building India’s Renewable Energy Base
Mahindra Susten is the group’s renewable energy business, focused on solar energy projects across India. It positions Mahindra as an active participant in India’s clean energy transition.
Key Details:
- Mahindra Susten develops, builds, and operates utility-scale solar power plants for government and private sector clients.
- The business supports the group’s stated ESG goal of enabling positive environmental change at scale.
- This vertical reflects Mahindra’s pattern of entering markets where it can create long-term social and economic impact.
8. Mahindra Logistics: Moving Goods Across India
Mahindra Logistics Limited provides third-party logistics and supply chain solutions to companies across India. It serves sectors including automotive, consumer goods, pharma, and e-commerce.
Key Details:
- Mahindra Logistics operates an asset-light model, managing transportation, warehousing, and last-mile delivery.
- The business benefits from the group’s deep relationships in automotive and farm equipment, while also serving external enterprise clients.
- Last-mile mobility, managed through Mahindra Last Mile Mobility Limited, supports the growing urban delivery segment.
9. Aerospace and Defence: An Emerging Vertical
Mahindra Defence Systems and its aerospace business represent the group’s push into India’s defence manufacturing opportunity, supported by the government’s Make in India initiative.
Key Details:
- Mahindra Defence manufactures armoured vehicles, small arms, and systems for the Indian Army and paramilitary forces.
- The aerospace arm works on aircraft components, maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services.
- SML Mahindra, through its passenger vehicle segment, grew 19% year-on-year in April 2026, reflecting strong momentum in mobility solutions that cross over into defence transport requirements.
Anand Mahindra and the ‘Rise’ Philosophy
Behind this multi-industry expansion is a leader who has shaped the Mahindra Group of Companies’ direction for decades.
As the grandson of co-founder J.C. Mahindra, Anand Mahindra represents the continuity of the Mahindra group’s founding vision while driving its modern global ambitions.
Educated at Harvard University, Anand Mahindra brought a global perspective to the business early on, combining strategic expansion with a strong focus on brand identity, innovation, and social impact.
Anand Mahindra became Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra in 1997 and has led its transformation into a globally respected conglomerate.
He earned recognition on Barron’s Top 30 CEOs Worldwide List in 2016 and appeared on Fortune Magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in 2014. The French Republic honoured him as a Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honour.
Under his leadership, Mahindra adopted the ‘Rise’ philosophy in 2011, a commitment to driving positive change in the lives of customers, communities, and stakeholders.
This philosophy now shapes how the group approaches ESG, rural empowerment, and innovation across every vertical.
End Note
The Mahindra Group of companies is an eighty-year journey of spotting needs and building solutions. From assembling 75 jeeps in post-Partition India to selling 48,000 tractors in a single month, the group has grown by staying relevant to the everyday lives of people.
Today, whether through a farmer financing a Swaraj tractor, a family booking a Club Mahindra holiday, or an enterprise deploying a Tech Mahindra AI solution, the Mahindra Group of companies touches India at every level, and increasingly, the world.
Maria Isabel Rodrigues
FAQs
- Who owns the Mahindra Group of companies?
Mahindra & Mahindra is a publicly listed company on the Bombay Stock Exchange and NSE. Anand Mahindra, grandson of co-founder J.C. Mahindra, serves as Executive Chairman. The founding family retains a significant stake.
- What are the key Mahindra Group of companies subsidiaries?
The major subsidiaries include Mahindra & Mahindra (auto and farm), Tech Mahindra (IT), Mahindra Finance (NBFC), Mahindra Electric Automobile Limited, Mahindra Lifespaces (real estate), Mahindra Holidays (hospitality), Mahindra Susten (renewables), Mahindra Logistics, and Mahindra Defence Systems.
- How big is the Mahindra Group globally?
The Mahindra Group has a group turnover of $25 billion+, it has 100+ subsidiaries, employs 324,000+ people in 100+ countries, and operates 71 manufacturing plants worldwide. It is one of India’s most recognized and diversified multinational conglomerates.
