Who is Anand Mahindra's successor? Or, Who is not?

On Monday, Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, chose Detroit - the car manufacturing hub of the world - to announce his plans for succession in the $ 19 billion automotive group. On the sidelines of the inaugural event of the group's Detroit plant in Michigan, he said the board already knows his choice of successor. He also added that the visibility into the next rung of leadership at the company is clearer compared to other corporate houses.

Will his heir be from Mahindra family? Or, is he/she a professional from inside/outside?

Mahindra is 62-year-old now. The present managing director Pawan Goenka is the second big name in the group and he is 63-year-old. Rajan Wadhera is the President of the Automotive Sector and Rajesh Jejurikar is the President of the Farm Equipment and the two wheeler segments. Ashok Sharma heads Agriculture Sector. All three reports to Goenka. Meanwhile, the 94-year-old Keshub Mahindra, the uncle of Anand, is still on board as Chairman Emeritus.

Anand Mahindra has two daughter --Aalika and Divya. Both live in New York and are not interested pursuing a professional career in the group business. (No reason why Mahindra and his wife Anuradha are frequent flyers to the US. Now Detroit plant is the third US connect). Aalika is a movie buff and pursues documentary filmmaking and photography. Divya is married to a Latin American Jorge Zapata, who heads a New York-based DIAD Architecture.

In one of the earlier interactions with a senior executive in Mahindra, he said that Mahindra himself trains a team of 20 every time to take over the leadership roles. So the selection of the successor is expected to be from the internal team. Besides, Mahindra in all probability will continue on top as his uncle Keshub Mahindra does. Experts say that the transferring of functional roles to a professional head will not be an issue. "The group is in an auto pilot mode. Even Mahindra interferes only in strategic decisions nowadays," they say.

In 1981, Anand joined Mahindra Ugine Steel Company (MUSCO) as an Executive Assistant to the Finance Director. He became President and Deputy managing director of the MUSCO after 8 years.

In 1991, he got appointed as Deputy managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra. By when he became Managing Director in April 1997, Anand began shouldering all the responsibilities which was done earlier by his uncle. In four years, he was appointed as Vice Chairman.

In August 2012, Anand took on the role of chairman of the board and managing director of the Mahindra Group from his uncle, Keshub Mahindra. His tenure has seen the Group expand domestically and internationally into a range of major industrial sectors from automobiles and agriculture to IT and aerospace.

The Group has also grown inorganically through acquisitions such as Ssangyong Motors, Reva Electric Car Company, Satyam Computer Services, Peugeot Motorcycles, Gippsland Aeronautics, Aerostaff Australia, Holiday Club Resorts, and Pininfarina S.p.A. He initiated the Mahindra Group's diversification into the new business areas of real estate development and hospitality management.
Anand, a graduate from Harvard, was a co-promoter of Kotak Mahindra Bank