We then move on to another segment where Mahindra has done quite well - the tractor segment. In FY 2013-14, Mahindra clocked 22 per cent growth with 2,57,270 tractors, the highest by the company. So what is the company doing at the manufacturing level to maintain this leadership position?

Mahindra has seven manufacturing sites dedicated for the farm equipment segment and Dr Goenka is very proud of the latest one at Zaheerabad. "That's the best tractor plant in India and perhaps even in the Asian countries. It is very modern, has all the equipment that anybody has, is very well laid out. In some sense, I consider manufacturing to be strength for Mahindra tractors," he explains excitedly.

In fact, Dr Goenka's biggest contributions to the Mahindra Group has been the efforts and focus on the quality of manufacturing and processes. Quite early, he introduced BPR - Business Process Re-engineering. And he is happy that the tractor division took a lead in implementing BPR.

"We were the first tractor company to get a Japanese quality medal, which we are very proud of and that tradition has continued in having very good manufacturing processes, very good systems, SOPs and of course, focus on quality. The Zaheerabad plant is the essence of the learnings that we have had over the years from our Kandivali plant, Nagpur plant, Udaipur plant, and Mohali plant; all put together," he says.

With less than normal monsoon forecast this year, does he see the tractor market getting affected? "One year of bad rains following a year of very good rains does not necessarily slow down this segment so much," he says, adding that Mahindra is always concerned about the rural segment which gets directly affected by the monsoons.

Rural penetration is, in fact, at the heart of the Group's overall strategy. "Even before everybody started looking at the rural segment, Mahindra has been the king of rural. The erstwhile products that we had, the Commander jeeps and the CL500s, were all rural products. They have transported rural India for many years. And today the most popular vehicle in rural segment is the Bolero."

Manufacturing plants under Dr Goenka