Speech delivered by Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., at the company’s 80th AGM
In my letter to you last year, I had described the prevailing global situation as a Samudra Manthan – a great churning. I acknowledged that every country and every company was inescapably going to have to swallow some of the poison churned up by the Manthan. However, I had also urged that instead of focusing solely on mitigating the effects of the poison, we should proactively view the Manthan as an opportunity to garner some of the amrit for ourselves. Whether it is a country or a business, the winners would be those resilient enough to navigate the uncertainty and ambiguity thrown up by the Manthan and convert it into an enduring advantage.
It makes me very happy to note that both your country and your company have demonstrated excellent navigational skills. In a world that is rebalancing and moving from globalisation towards selective partnerships, India’s relevance has grown significantly. Its ability to combine scale with strategic flexibility is positioning it as an increasingly important pillar of a distributed global economy. India is now seen as a credible and stable destination for investment, manufacturing and talent – today, approximately 25% of all iPhones are manufactured in India. Politically, it has quietly protected its own interests while engaging with other nations through diplomacy and tact. Economically, it continues to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world. In an increasingly unpredictable world, India is holding its own.
Your company, too, has extracted its share of amrit from the Manthan. Our results for the year gone by are outstanding and have reached historical highs. We are rewriting the rules of mobility and comfort through the revolutionary NU_IQ platform. Our commitment to innovation is reflected in the remarkable growth in patents granted – from just 56 a decade ago to more than 1,300 today – demonstrating our ability to innovate despite the tsunami of change swirling around us.
During this volatile period, the Mahindra Group has also announced one of the largest prospective investments in its history – ₹15,000 crore over the next 10 years in Nagpur – demonstrating our confidence in our ability to navigate the future. These achievements have also been recognised externally. We have been named Outstanding Company of the Year at the India Business Leadership Awards and have been recognised among TIME magazine’s Top 50 Companies in the World.
All of this is indeed heartening. However, as recent developments, particularly in West Asia, have shown us, the Manthan is far from over. We have successfully navigated the first phase of the churning, but we must now prepare ourselves for Manthan 2.0. Uncertainty is no longer the exception; it has become the rule. Black swan events have become so commonplace that the pond is now full of black swans. What were once viewed as temporary disruptions are increasingly proving to be long-term resets of supply chains, geopolitical alignments and technologies. We are moving from a world of episodic shocks to one of continuous earthquakes, where anticipating change is becoming increasingly difficult. The imperative today is to build the agility and resilience needed to thrive in a constantly shifting landscape. Manthan 2.0 is now upon us.
Can we continue to reap the amrit in this new Manthan? I believe the stars are favourable for India. India’s rise today is becoming increasingly aligned with the way the world itself is being reconfigured. Mark Carney and several other global leaders have called for the world to move beyond rigid trading blocs towards multiple coalitions, and that transition is already underway.
The next global order may well be shaped by nations that can become ‘connectors’ in a fragmented world. This presents India with a unique opportunity to emerge as a ‘connector economy’ that works across divides. Over the past year, India has already begun to establish this reputation through its quiet yet consistent approach of maintaining goodwill with all. Combine this with our democracy, political stability, strategic geographical location, large domestic market and the trust we inspire across ideological blocs, and you have all the ingredients of a perfect connector economy.
India was the first nation to embrace the concept of non-alignment. Today, this is the ideal moment to evolve from being ‘non-aligned’ to becoming a ‘multi-aligned’ force and a trusted global partner. The question before India is no longer whether it will rise, but how effectively it will translate this historic moment into an enduring advantage.
For Mahindra & Mahindra, the opportunities presented by this new Manthan are even greater than those of the last. This is not a time to stand still or to rest on our laurels. It is time to move from navigation to acceleration.
As the mist of uncertainty billows around us, we will seek enduring advantage by going into what I call ‘Attack Mode’. Attack Mode is a strategy used in Formula E racing, where a driver deliberately chooses the right moment to accelerate under less-than-perfect conditions. In ideal conditions, overtaking is difficult because everyone is travelling at speed. It is during rainy or hazy conditions that calculated acceleration can propel a driver to victory. This is not reactive speed; it is strategic acceleration, backed by preparation, conviction and confidence.
We are accelerating through the fog, confident in the strength of our vision, the clarity of our strategy and the effectiveness of our execution.
Thank you.
