A great idea like Mahindra Universe calls for an immediate response and having been associated with the exciting globalisation journey of Mahindra’s Auto Sector, I’d like to start the ball rolling, with some thoughts on what globalisation means to me. Lets together look at what it takes to globalise, generally, and as we go along, we’ll get more specific with regard to the relevance and means available for us - the Mahindra family.

To me, globalisation has a lot to do with the concept “we – the citizens of this world”. Never was any one part of the world completely isolated or insulated from the thinking, happenings and developments in another hundreds or even thousands of miles away, and this is far more so today than it ever was.

Examples abound throughout history, whether it was the Renaissance in 15^th – 17^th century Europe, the French and American revolutions of the 18^th century, the consolidation of the British Empire and growing sea trade of the 19^th century, or the World Wars and the rise of Nazism in the first half of the 20^th century. A quick top of the mind listing for the 2^nd half of the 20^th century would include the rise of the bi-polar world (cold war), two petroleum ‘shocks’, Japanese manufacturing, the birth of the now ubiquitous PC, crisis in the Middle East, collapse of the USSR and the greatly expanding economic prowess of the Chinese.

As is evident, the occurrence of events which impacted the world have been increasing exponentially to the extent that for the last 10 years one has been able to count these on one’s fingers. Starting with the currency crises of S/E Asia, the millennium bug, 9/11, the war against terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, the humungous growth of the Internet and internet communities, the third oil ‘shock’, global warming, waning strength of the USD as a world currency, the coming of age of BRICs …these and several other events that have had an impact on the world are just too many to count. To give you an example closer to home, we are all waiting for the sub-prime crises in the US to blow over so that the BSE reverts back to the meteoric rise we are used to experiencing.

In other words, today, we are truly living in a unified world – a world that is globalising very rapidly.

Let’s just for a moment ponder, and think, why this is happening and if this trend will reverse in the future. I for one believe that it is absolutely irreversible and whether we like it or not, globalisation is an inevitable reality. Is it good or bad for us? Will it change the fortunes of those living sub-human lives? … these are questions that beg to be answered.

Equally important, each one of us in the Mahindra family needs to appreciate that given the inevitability of globalisation we should welcome it with open arms so as to benefit from it, and in the process transform the Mahindra brand into a truly global brand, respected the world over as a responsible global citizen.