DIMAPUR, MARCH 30 (MExN): Anand Mahindra of the Mahindra Company visited Dimapur today, accompanied by a coterie of company officials. He signed a MoU with the Nagaland government to set up a school for the training of nurses and IT professionals in the state in the presence of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and senior government officials. The basic investment for the non-profit venture is Rs 1 crore. The school would be set up and run by Naandi Foundation, an NGO, of which Mahindra is a trustee. He visited the newly built Mahindra showroom cum servicing station at Walford colony. He also had a short interaction with the customers in order to receive feedback, both positive and negative.
During the meeting, the customers said that a major disadvantage of the Mahindra vehicles is the unavailability of the 4x4 option. With the difficult terrain and bad roads, he was informed by the customers that beyond certain points, the Mahindra vehicles are replaced by the Maruti Gypsies which are much lighter and easy to manoeuvre. Anand Mahindra replied that the company would look into the various issues which had been brought to its notice. He also informed that the ‘Marshall’ had already been discontinued due to some technical problems. At the same time, the company will be releasing a new 4x4 all terrain vehicle within the next 2 years. It is tentatively been called ‘Zeba’. Its primary target is the Israeli Army, which has already placed orders for it. It will be replacing the Hummer. A fibre - glass top Invader will also be released into the market soon.
Anand Mahindra also made a stop at the NE Agri – Expo after the interaction. He is responsible for the annual turnover of M&M increasing from 11.2 crores to 14.3 crores. He has been placed 12th in the India Today 2006 Power People list. M&M is currently the largest manufacturer of tractors in India and the 4th largest manufacturer of tractors in the world.
.jpg)
