ET Awards: Business leader of the year - Anand Mahindra

NEW DELHI: Anand Mahindra, the boss of the eponymous $7-billion Mahindra group, certainly does not lack what the first George Bush, US President between 1988 and 1992, once referred to as “the vision thing”. On Wednesday, Mr Mahindra surprised many by announcing his intention to build an Indian version of Embraer, the Brazilian maker of aeroplanes, and crank out nearly 500 planes in the next five years.

A capital-hungry diversification less than a year after a big-ticket acquisition is not exactly conventional wisdom. Markets are not known to appreciate what would seem like an unrelated foray either and indeed the share of M&M, the group’s flagship, duly fell 2% on Thursday in a weak Mumbai market.

The company that Mr Mahindra hopes will grow into a version of Embraer, one of the world’s largest makers of commercial aircraft, is Bangalore-based Mahindra Aerospace, a group company that recently acquired two small Australian aerospace companies.

The 55-year-old Mr Mahindra isn’t a purist though. Indeed aviation is not the only seemingly audacious foray that he has announced. Another brand new business his group is interested in, according to Mr Mahindra, is renewable energy.

The ability to look beyond the stock price and quarterly results have helped grow both his group and its individual businesses. Being contrarian has helped group Mahindra’s cause enormously and in August a jury headed by the worldwide CEO of Nokia, Olli-Pekka Kalasvuo, chose as the winner of the ET Awards for Corporate Leader of the Year.

“Usually I get asked, ‘isn’t that enough?” Mr Mahindra told ET in an exclusive interview. “We have a full plate with aerospace, which is the newest kid on the block. We also have Mahindra Partners, our private equity wing that’s nurturing new businesses.” But India’s big fat growth story is a magnet for global business interest and for someone like Mr Mahindra, it’s just too good an opportunity to pass up.