M&M top brass promises urgent remedial action in farmer humiliation row

M&M chairman Anand Mahindra said in a tweet: ' Core Purpose of @MahindraRise is to enable our communities & all stakeholders to Rise. And a key Core Value is to uphold the Dignity of the Individual.'

Top brass of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd on Tuesday promised urgent remedial action a day after it emerged that a farmer, who came to buy a pick-up truck of the company, was allegedly insulted by a sales staff at a showroom in Karnataka.

A video of the incident that took place at Tumkur in Karnataka went viral wherein the farmer claimed that he had been told that he probably didn't even have "Rs 10 in his pocket" by a sales staff when he went to buy a Bolero pick-up truck, which "costs Rs 10 lakh".

Reacting to social media posts, M&M Chairman Anand Mahindra said in a tweet, "The Core Purpose of @MahindraRise is to enable our communities & all stakeholders to Rise. And a key Core Value is to uphold the Dignity of the Individual. Any aberration from this philosophy will be addressed with great urgency."

Similarly, M&M Managing Director and CEO Anish Shah also took to social media to announce that the company is dealing with the issue with urgency.

"Customer centricity and dignity of the individual are the foundation of @MahindraRise we are addressing this issue with urgency," Shah said in a post on Twitter.

Elaborating on the steps taken by the company, M&M Ltd CEO Automotive Division Veejay Nakra tweeted, "Dealers are an integral part of delivering a customer centric experience & we ensure the respect & dignity of all our customers."

He further said, "We are investigating the incident and will take appropriate action, in the case of any transgression, including counselling & training of frontline staff."

In the video, the farmer and his friends claimed he was dismissed by the sales person on the basis of his appearance. After an argument broke out, the farmer dared the sales person to arrange for same day delivery of vehicle if he came back with the money within an hour.

When he returned with cash, the salesperson could not manage instant delivery due to long waiting period. The farmer and his friends then demanded apology from the sales person as heated arguments followed and the police had to intervene.

While the sale staff apologised, the farmer left saying he didn't want to buy from the showroom.