Anand Mahindra calls for emergency vaccination of all in Maharashtra to prevent economic impact of lockdowns

As Covid-19 infections surge in Maharashtra, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) chairman Anand Mahindra called for an emergency permission from the Centre to vaccinate every willing person in the state to limit the economic fallout.

“Over half the new daily cases (in India) are in Maharashtra. The state is the nerve-centre of the country’s economic activity (and) more lockdowns will be debilitating,” Mahindra said on Twitter tagging the handles of the Prime Minister’s Office and Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan.

“Maharashtra needs emergency permission to vaccinate EVERY willing person. No shortage of vaccines,” he said. The Indian government is rolling out vaccines in stages with people older than 60 years of age and those over 45 with comorbidities currently being inoculated.


The Maharashtra government has imposed partial or complete lockdowns in several districts in the state to contain the virus. The state accounts for almost a seventh of India’s GDP and a hard lockdown in Maharashtra could have far reaching consequences for the recovering national economy.

Automakers like M&M with facilities in Maharashtra haven’t seen any impact yet due to the partial lockdowns and night curfews but they are closely monitoring the situation, ET reported on Monday.

M&M has four plants in Maharashtra, at Nashik, Nagpur, Chakan and Kandivili in Mumbai.

“There’s no adverse impact of any kind on production or supply chain due to Covid, as of now. On the supply-chain front, we continue to be watchful,” said Rajeshwar Tripathi, the chief human resources officer at M&M.

The automotive industry is already grappling with supply chain issues with a shortage of components, especially chipsets, impacting production. Waiting periods have shot up for popular models to as high as 8 months in some cases.