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Business Insider IndiaPawan Goenka nearly missed the job at M&M — today he is the MD & CEOBCCL
There has been no stopping Pawan Goenka, the young boy whose family moved to Kolkata from Harpalpur in Madhya Pradesh. He studied at a Hindi medium school and did engineering from IIT Kanpur and went for a PhD at Cornell University in the UK.
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After over two decades in Mahindra & Mahindra, Goenka has risen through the ranks and has been appointed as the MD and CEO, as the company’s billionaire promoter Anand Mahindra himself became a non-executive chairman.
Ever since, he has been headhunted by the best of the best like AT&T – was hired by General Motors. But Goenka had spotted an ad in a newspaper by Mahindra & Mahindra in Detroit who called auto professionals back home. An interview was fixed.
Here’s why he left dollar earnings to join M&M in India
(Source: BCCL)
Whenever he visited India for a holiday in Kolkata, his mother would not let him go long and far. Added to that, those were the times of Babri Masjid demolition, and Air India was running very few flights. An interview with Anand Mahindra in Mumbai almost did not happen – there was a bandh in the city except he got one flight.
The Babri Masjid demolition nearly took away the opportunity at M&M
(Source: BCCL)
After spending 90 minutes with a young Anand Mahindra who wanted to build the world’s best products in India, he made his decision – though he was also offered a job by Eicher Motors. One of the things that Goenka and Mahindra argued about was the car that he would be offered as he would become the managing director at their Nashik plant. While he was offered an Ambassador, Goenka wanted a Contessa. They had settled for a NE118.
The ever-popular Mahindra Scorpio that shocked even Ford Motors
(Source: BCCL)
Mahindra gave a blank cheque to Goenka for R&D and after five years, a prototype of Scorpio was born. Not only did it make a jubilant Mahindra hug everyone around, even Ford, their partner then, was shocked by Mahindra’s ability to make an automobile on a shoestring budget.
Scorpio went on to be one of the company’s best sellers.
Not just a technical wizard, a master in partnerships
(Source: BCCL)
Not just a technical wizard, a master in partnershipsSoon, Goenka moved to become the COO of auto business as the many joint ventures — including the ones with Ford, Renault, and Reva— the company forged helped it grow into the auto major that it now is.
All work and no play
(Source: BCCL)
Yet, like many great men he made sacrifices. His 16 hour work days, leave him with less or no time for family. In fact his wife says that his wife watches his back all weekends as he works through it. As he believes that every minute he left belongs to his family, he does not indulge in what many corporate leaders do – like golfing or partying.