The cries of the Partition of India were heard across families on both sides of the newly drawn border, and in the middle of this upheaval, when people were leaving homes and choosing between two nations, a small company founded just two years earlier quietly found itself at a crossroads that would shape its future.
In 1945, in Ludhiana (Punjab), two brothers, Kailash Chandra Mahindra and Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, along with a friend, Ghulam Mohammed, had set up a steel trading firm, and in a gesture that reflected both trust and partnership, named as Mahindra & Mohammed, the company was one of India’s earliest, ensuring that all three shared equal identity in the business even if the investment and shares were varying at a greater extent.
At that point, it was just another trading company, dealing in steel, operating in a country still under British rule, with little indication that it would one day grow into one of India’s largest business groups.
Then came 1947.
As the country split into India and Pakistan, the partnership too underwent a division of its own, not through disagreement but through circumstance, as Ghulam Mohammed moved to the newly formed Pakistan, where he would go on to become the country’s first Finance Minister and later its Governor-General, while the Mahindra brothers chose to stay back in India and continue building the business.
The question that followed was simple but practical: what happens to the company’s name?
By then, the initials “M&M” had already been printed across documents, letterheads, and invoices, and instead of starting afresh, the brothers decided to retain what already existed, changing the full form but keeping the identity intact, and this is how Mahindra & Mahindra came into being.
The relationship, however, did not end with the border.
Years later in 1955, when Ghulam Mohammed visited India, he remained in touch with the Mahindra family.
THE EARLY YEARS OF M&M
The company had been set up on October 2, 1945, when two brothers, Jagdish Chandra Mahindra and Kailash Chandra Mahindra—along with Ghulam Mohammed came together to establish what was then known as Mahindra & Mohammed.
The shift from trading to manufacturing began soon after, and by 1947, the company had entered the automobile space by assembling Willys Jeeps, marking its first major move into production at a time when India was beginning to build its industrial capacity.
In 1949, this transition became more visible when 75 Willys Jeeps arrived in India from the Willys Overland Export Corporation in completely knocked down (CKD) condition, and were assembled at Mazagon in Bombay, laying the foundation for what would later become one of the company’s most recognised business segments.
The company continued to grow through the 1950s, and on June 15, 1955, Mahindra & Mahindra went public, followed by its listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1956, marking its entry into the formal financial market and expanding its access to capital.
One of the defining public moments came in 1964, when a specially manufactured Mahindra Jeep was used during the visit of Pope Paul VI to Bombay, where he, along with Valerian Cardinal Gracias, greeted thousands during the Eucharistic Congress, placing the company’s product in a moment of national and international attention.
By the early 1960s, the company had expanded further, entering the tractor segment through a partnership with International Harvester, aligning itself with India’s agricultural needs at a time when food production and rural mechanisation were becoming central to policy and planning.
Under the leadership of Keshub Mahindra, who took over as chairman in 1963, the company began to diversify steadily, building partnerships with global firms such as Mitsubishi and Peugeot, and moving into sectors beyond automobiles.
What had started as a steel trading firm had by then begun to take the shape of a diversified group, with a growing presence across industries that were closely linked to India’s development.
Over time, Mahindra vehicles, especially its jeeps and tractors, became widely used across rural and semi-urban India, serving both as transport and as tools of work, and gradually becoming part of everyday economic activity.
Today, the group operates across multiple industries, but its origins remain tied to a moment in history when a business had to redefine itself in the middle of a national division, and then evolve alongside a country that was building itself from the ground up.
The story of Mahindra & Mahindra is not just about growth or diversification; it is also about continuity, of a name that survived the Partition of India.
What began as Mahindra & Mohammed became M&M in the shadow of Partition, not by design but by circumstance, and even today, the early years of the company carry the imprint of that moment, reminding us how businesses, like people, were shaped by one of the most defining chapters in the subcontinent’s history.
