Brijmohan Lall Munjal (1 July 1923 – 1 November 2015) was an Indian entrepreneur and the founder of

Hero Group The Hero Group is a private, Swiss international consumer food manufacturer and marketing company, which primarily sells infant formula, baby food, jam and nutritional snack foods. In 2015, the Group generated revenues surpassing CHF 1.26 bil ...

Early life

Munjal was born on 1 July 1923 in

Kamalia Kamalia ( pa, , ur, ) is a city in the Toba Tek Singh District of Punjab, Pakistan. It is the administrative center of Kamalia Tehsil. It is the 42nd largest city of Pakistan by population and has a lot more population compared to nearby c ...

, undivided India, which is located in the

Toba Tek Singh District Toba Tek Singh District (Punjabi and ur, ) is a district of Faisalabad Division in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located between 30°33' to 31°2' Degree north latitudes and 72°08' to 72°48' Degree longitudes. It became a separate ...

of present-day

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

. He came to Amritsar from Kamalia in 1944 at the age of 20 with his three brothers, Dayanand, Satyanand and

Om Prakash Om Prakash (born Om Prakash Chibber 19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu as Om Prakash Chibber and went on to become a well-known character actor of Bollywood. His most well-known movies are Na ...

Merchant and industrialist

Once in Amritsar, Munjal and his brothers started a bicycle parts business. They later moved to

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...

, where in 1954, he founded

Hero Cycles Hero Cycles Limited, based in Ludhiana, Punjab, India, Punjab, is an Indian company that manufactures bicycles and bicycle related products. Pankaj M Munjal is the chairman and managing director of Hero Cycles. History Hero Cycles was estab ...

Limited and began making bicycle parts, starting with forks and then adding handles and other parts. In 1956, the Punjab government issued a license to manufacture bicycles. His company got this license and from here his world changed. With the financial support of Rs 6 lakh from the government and its own capital, Hero Cycles forayed into bicycle manufacturing by getting the status of "Large Scale Unit". The company had an annual production capacity of 7,500 cycles at that time. By 1975 it had become the largest bicycle company in India and in 1986, Hero Cycles was entered in the

Guinness Book ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

as the world's largest bicycle company.

Hero Honda

After the bicycle company he opened a two-wheeler company named Hero Majestic Company. In this he started making Majestic scooters and mopeds. In 1984, he signed a deal with Japan's big auto company

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

and from here his world changed again. Together with Honda, he set up a plant in

Dharuhera Dharuhera is a census town located, just 19 km from Rewari city in Rewari district of the state of Haryana, India. Dharuhera comes under Delhi NCR region and it is a big Industrial hub in Rewari district, Rewari District. Dharuhera is the new gr ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

. On 13 April 1985, Hero Honda's first bike CD 100 came in the market. The Hero Group made such progress that by 2002, 8.6 million Hero Honda motorcycles had been sold and 16,000 motorcycles were being produced daily.

Hero MotoCorp

In August 2011, after exiting the joint venture with Honda Motors, the company was renamed as Hero MotoCorp, and the Hero Group decided to pay royalties to Honda Company in order to use the Hero Honda brand by 2013. The Hero Group was then able to export to countries where Honda already had business and Hero-Honda joint venture had not been allowed to sell goods.

Personal life

Brijmohan was married to Santosh and they have four sons (including Pawan and Sunil) and a daughter. He died on 1 November 2015 in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

after a short illness.

Awards

Brijmohan Lal Munjal was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

by the Government of India in 2005 in the field of industry and trade. Other major honors he has received include: * Lifetime Contribution Award by

All India Management Association All India Management Association (AIMA) is the national apex body of the management profession in India. A not for profit, non-lobbying organisation, working closely with Industry, Government, Academia and students to further the cause of the m ...

in 2011 * The Forbes India Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2014

References

{{reflist Indian company founders Indian billionaires Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in trade and industry Indian industrialists 1923 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesspeople