MUMBAI, India: A blog post on the Harvard Business Review website recently challenged readers across the world to design a house that could be constructed for less than US $300. Initially a conceptual argument by bloggers Vijay Govindarajan and Christian Sarkar, the hypothetical idea of a house constructed for under US$300 received an overwhelming response and they began to bring together a collective of thinkers, designers and investors from around the world. Eventually, with partners Jovoto, a crowd-sourcing forum for sponsored design competitions, and US$25,000 prize money underwritten by international industrial firm Ingersoll Rand, the blog post resulted in a challenge to bring affordable housing to the world's poor.

The US $300 House Open Design Challenge was born.

Enthused on hearing about this competition, a team from the Mahindra Partners Division submitted an entry. They received the global award of recognition for corporate participation and will be proceeding to the US for a prototyping workshop. The design incorporates material which is abundantly available in local markets and utilises low-technology materials and simple design that can be built easily at low-cost, globally. "The Mahindra Partners team exemplifies Mahindra's brand promise of Rise - to use alternative thinking and accept no limits - as we seek to drive positive change in the lives of our stakeholders. .Competitions such as the US $ 300 House Open Design Challenge help foster creative thought and collaboration towards finding a viable solution for the housing crisis. The entry submitted by the team is a great example of reverse innovation and is a positive step towards creating low-cost, affordable housing for the world's poor," said Mr. Zhooben Bhiwandiwala, Executive Vice President and Managing Partner, Mahindra Partners.

"As a group of professionals interested in finding a solution to the housing crisis, especially in developing countries, we were intrigued with the '$300 house challenge' and thought it was a great opportunity for us to leverage our individual expertise. The brief was to design a dwelling which would be sustainable, secure, durable, replicable and dignified, within a cost of US $300. In our entry, we have not only attempted to address all these factors but have also made a case for its commercial viability," said Mr. Mohan Raghavan, Team Mentor, Mahindra Partners.

What started out as an after-hours discussion amongst a diverse group ranging from structural experts, cleantech professionals and technologists, culminated into involved brain-storming sessions and personal time and effort put in beyond the team's professional commitments, towards designing a low-skill and low-cost solution.

The design incorporates material which is abundantly available in local markets and utilises low-technology inputs and simple design that can be built easily at low-cost, globally. In addition to creating a design, the team went a step further and conceptualised a Development and Identity Scheme (DiD) scheme similar to schemes such as the UID (Unique Identification Number) scheme, where people enrolled in a government database would be eligible for rural financing and support to build their own homes. This would enable adoption in an organised manner at a mass level.

Notes:

Vijay Govindarajan (VG) is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business and the Founding Director of Tuck's Center for Global Leadership. VG is an expert on strategy and innovation. He was the first Professor in Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant at General Electric. He has been cited by BusinessWeek, The Economist, Forbes and The London Times as the top thought leader in strategy.

Christian Sarkar is an independent Internet strategy consultant and a leading expert in mapping online social and business networks and ecosystems for competitive intelligence and market research in public and private sectors. He is the CEO at Ecosystem Intelligence and the CEO and Founder at double Loop Marketing LLC.

Please visit http://www.300house.com for further details.

About The Mahindra Group

The Mahindra Group focuses on enabling people to rise. Mahindra operates in the key industries that drive economic growth, enjoying a leadership position in tractors, utility vehicles, information technology and vacation ownership. Mahindra has a presence in the automotive industry, agribusiness, aerospace, components, consulting services, defence, energy, financial services, industrial equipment, logistics, real estate, retail, steel and two wheelers.

A US $12.5 billion multinational group based in Mumbai, India, Mahindra employs more than 119,900 people in over 100 countries.

In 2011, Mahindra featured on the Forbes Global 2000 list, a listing of the biggest and most powerful listed companies in the world. Dun & Bradstreet also ranked Mahindra at No. 1 in the automobile sector in its list of India's Top 500 Companies. In 2010, Mahindra featured in the Credit Suisse Great Brands of Tomorrow.

Its flagship company Mahindra & Mahindra Limited is the only Indian automobile manufacturer to feature in the top 10 list of the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index in India - 2010, created by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

In 2011, Mahindra acquired a majority stake in Korea's SsangYong Motor Company.

For further information, please visithttp://www.mahindra.com

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Ms. Roma Balwani
Senior Vice President & Group Head, Corporate Communications
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
Phone: (+91-22)-2490-1441
Fax: (+91-22)-2490-0830
Email: balwani.roma@mahindra.com