Archive · 13 Sep 2026
How Three Founders Built Mahindra From Steel Trading
Three experienced men started a company called Mahindra & Mohammed in 1945.
At first, it traded steel from other countries.
They then decided to assemble Jeeps in India instead of selling used military vehicles.
They ordered 75 Jeep kits just as India was being divided into India and Pakistan.
One founder, Malik Ghulam Muhammad, moved to Pakistan and became its first Finance Minister.
The two Mahindra brothers kept running the company in India.
They changed its name to Mahindra & Mahindra but kept the same initials so they would not need new stationery.
The first Jeep was assembled in 1949.
Over many years, the company grew into a large group involved in vehicles, tractors, technology and many other businesses.
Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, Kailash Chandra Mahindra and Malik Ghulam Muhammad founded Mahindra & Mohammed in Ludhiana on October 2, 1945.
The company began as a steel trader before ordering 75 knock-down Jeep kits from Willys-Overland in October 1947.
Partition separated the founders; Muhammad became Pakistan’s first Finance Minister while the Mahindra brothers continued the business in India.
The company changed its name to Mahindra & Mahindra in January 1948, retaining the initials to avoid replacing stationery and business materials.
Its first Willys Jeep was assembled in Mazagaon in 1949, helping launch a group that later expanded into vehicles, tractors, technology, finance and other industries.
- Who
- Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, Kailash Chandra Mahindra and Malik Ghulam Muhammad founded the company; the Mahindra brothers continued it after Muhammad moved to Pakistan.
- What
- A steel-trading firm evolved into a Jeep assembler and later into the diversified Mahindra Group.
- When
- The company was founded on October 2, 1945; it ordered Jeep kits in October 1947, changed its name in January 1948 and assembled its first Jeep on June 3, 1949.
- Where
- The business was founded in Ludhiana, and its first Jeep assembly line operated at Mazagaon near the Bombay docks.
- Why
- The founders wanted to build a large industrial enterprise and saw an opportunity to assemble new Jeeps in India using wartime supply contacts.
- Original name
- Mahindra & Mohammed
- Founding date
- October 2, 1945
- Founders
- Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, Kailash Chandra Mahindra and Malik Ghulam Muhammad
- Initial business
- Steel trading, including imports from England and the United States
- First Jeep order
- 75 complete knock-down units ordered from Willys-Overland Export Corporation in October 1947
- Name change
- Mahindra & Mahindra was legally registered on January 14, 1948
- First assembled Jeep
- A Willys CJ-2A assembled on June 3, 1949, at Mazagaon