Brijmohan Lall Munjal, chairman emeritus of Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Hero MotoCorp, maker of the popular Hero range of motorcycles and scooters, died Sunday evening. He was 92.
Munjal built Hero MotoCorp, formerly known as Hero Honda Motors Ltd., into the world’s largest maker of two wheelers. He also led the Hero Group into new areas including financial services, renewable energy, education and electronics, according to the statement. In October, the patriarch featured at Number 27 on Forbes Asia’s India Rich List with a family fortune of $3 billion.
Munjal was born in 1923 in what was then an undivided Punjab state, but at age 20 moved with his family to Amritsar. The Munjals then shifted to Ludhiana, a city that was to become the base of their business ventures. Munjal, who never went to college, started making bicycle components before securing a license to make bicycles. Along with his three brothers, he built Hero Cycles into the world’s largest maker of bicycles.
In 1984, Hero made the leap into producing motorcycles by forging a joint venture with Honda Motor . Their Hero Honda partnership went on to overtake entrenched market leader Bajaj Auto , controlled by billionaire Rahul Bajaj, to become India’s biggest motorcycle maker.
After 27 years, Hero, run by Munjal’s son Pawan, broke ties with the Japanese firm in 2011 renaming their company Hero MotoCorp. While it now competes with Honda, Hero has held on to its position as India’s biggest maker of two-wheelers with a 50% market share.
