In a post on X, shared a day after World Intellectual Property Day, Mahindra noted that he recently discovered his grandfather, JC Mahindra, had filed a patent in 1918 concerning internal combustion engine technology.
This information had mostly faded from both family memory and the group’s institutional knowledge, he mentioned.
The revelation arose from an ongoing initiative to organize the conglomerate’s archives.
A company executive involved in cataloging historical documents stumbled upon this patent and highlighted it during discussions around World IP Day, assuming it was a well-known fact.
“I didn’t,” Mahindra remarked, expressing that he was “genuinely stunned” to learn about it.
Reflecting on how this detail had been overlooked over time, he stated, “Growing up, I would occasionally hear my father and uncle refer to JC as a ‘tinkerer’… But it was always vague, never quite part of the Group’s folklore.”
Image of JC Mahindra shared by Anand Mahindra on X.
He also remarked, “For decades, we hadn’t systematically organized our archives and memorabilia.”
While he acknowledged that the patent itself may not have been “a seminal or earth-shaking” innovation, Mahindra believes it should have occupied a more prominent place in the company’s history, “at the very least… for a Group that makes automobiles.”
JC Mahindra, who trained as an engineer at Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, built much of his early career in the steel sector, including a position at Tata Steel, before becoming India’s first Iron and Steel Controller during World War II.
The global connections he fostered during that time later assisted him and his brother in laying the groundwork for the Mahindra business, which transitioned from trading to manufacturing with the introduction of Willys Jeeps and International Harvester tractors in India.
Describing the discovery as a personal moment, Mahindra shared that it instilled in him “a renewed sense of pride and a fresh dose of motivation,” expressing his hope that it would “inspire engineers across the group to continue a legacy of innovation.”
