A Helpline for Senior Citizens by Arun Nanda
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| Image: Vikas Khot |
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Arun Nanda
Title: Stepped down as excecutive director on the board of Mahindra & Mahindra
Age: 60
Career: He joined M&M in 1973, when he was 23 years of age, in the accounts department as a management trainee. Was promoted to the board in 1992 at the age of 40. In 1994 was put in charge of the services sector.
Education: Chartered accountant
Hobbies: Classical singing, playing golf and playing the tabla
Looking back on your time at Mahindra & Mahindra, what stands out?
You people only look at my successes, I’ve had failures also. But to the credit of Mr. Mahindra he told me something which was very interesting. He said Arun, if you did not take risk, I’d be worried. The actual credit for finding an entrepreneur in me — that transformation from an accountant to this — goes to Anand. He was the one who actually saw the entrepreneur in me, before I knew I was an entrepreneur.
You have worked here for over 30 years…
I have worked here so long — for 36 years — and never, ever have I appeared for an interview elsewhere. There are two reasons. Firstly, we were never treated as employees. Even today, Anand or Mr. Keshub Mahindra — if they introduce me they will never say, Arun works for us; which most people would say. They always say meet my colleague on the board. The value of a human being was one. And second is the ethics – not one day did I go to bed with my conscience telling me I did something which was not right.
Why drop it all now? You’ve just launched one of the most successful IPOs in 2009 and you’ve been awarded the highest civilian honour by France, you’re at the height of your career some would say.
This [M&M] has been home. I joined the company in 1973 as a 23-year-old. Twenty-three to sixty is a long time. It’s a very important decision — at the peak of your career, to give up money and power is not a very easy decision to take. I started thinking of it honestly, two years ago. Because if I want to do something and I want to grow it — I must start at a time when I still have the energy to do it. There’s no point doing it post retirement.
Why social entrepreneurship?
What I have observed is people are living longer and the joint family system has virtually disappeared. And even your own children whether they go abroad or within the country they are more mobile in their work. So senior citizens are very lonely. So I’m going to build up community centres where every afternoon people can go and meet like-minded people. And I will have social workers who will organise activities there. And the second thing I’m going to start is a helpline. You’ll be surprised. You read in the newspaper about child abuse, there’s lots of adult abuse in this country. So the helpline is where we can provide all sorts of facilities. We will tie up the backend with providers. For the present I am going to create an NGO — a trust which I will fund personally to start with. I’m also going to build an NPO. I’m looking for people to join me — people who’ve worked in industry and are now thinking like me. I will use my vision but I will get people to translate that vision, like I have done at Mahindras.
What is the role you will retain at M&M and within the group companies?
I talked to Anand [Mahindra] about my plans and he was very generous. He said since what you are going to do is not conflicting with M&M why don’t we find a way that you can be involved here as well as follow your passion. So I will give up my executive position and continue in a non-executive role. But my role is actually going to be fairly significant. I’ll continue to be the chairman of Mahindra Holidays which I started. I was the vice-chairman of Mahindra Lifespaces, the real estate company, and now Anand is proposing to elevate me as chairman of that company. Plus I will continue to look after the infrastructure interests of the Group like Mahindra Water — the Tirupur Water Project and also Mahindra Consulting Engineers.
Speaking of the IPO, what made you take the plunge with an IPO when everyone else was taking the private equity route? Your IPO was seen by analysts as a test of whether or not the market had the appetite for investments in IPOs.
Everybody thought I was mad! This is not the first time Mahindras did it. Even Tech Mahindra, when it came, it was after a lull. I am a trained accountant. The mind is not only conservative but also you think rationally. But I also think somewhere I have got this gift to think through the stomach. And sometimes you have to listen to your gut. The story was very good, because the company was growing at 73 percent CAGR. We could see that the market needed some and as a responsible company we thought that we have to lead the way. I don’t think I took a risk. I was confident that it is a good issue. Because the track record was good. Tech Mahindra had done well. And look at the stock — the issue at 300 rupees was quoting at 465 in less than six months time. WSJ has quoted that this was one of the best Indian IPOs in 2009. After us there was a spate. But in a war, it’s the first guy who goes who is the most vulnerable.
It took us a little effort to explain to people the story because it was a different story — it’s neither a hotel industry nor a real estate industry. It’s a very unique position where you have a growth story and an annuity. The company is growing and since your membership is for 25 years, the member gives you money every year for 25 years. And I think the challenge before us was how do you educate the investor about this. You can’t do this issue by saying it’s a multiple offer thing. We had to actually go out and explain to people how this company will work. In the end, the issue was 10 times over subscribed.
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I read your article it is no nice sir.
