DR. BRIJMOHAN LALL MUNJAL
Founder - Hero Group
Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal is an Indian businessman and the founder of The Hero Group which owns Hero Honda Motors in India and is one of the richest people in India. Brijmohan Lall Munjal was born in 1923 at Kamalia in unpartitioned India. Kamalia is now in Pakistan. He was from a simple middle-class Hindu family. After completing his formal education he worked at the Army Ordnance Factory, before moving his base to India after partition.
In 1944, when Brijmohan was 20, his family sensed partition, So Brijmohan along with his elder brothers Dayanand Munjal, Satyanand Munjal and his younger brother Om Prakash Munjal came to India and settled in Amritsar. The brothers initially started a business by supplying components to manufacturers of bicycles in and around Amritsar. After the partition in 1947 the Munjal family completely shifted their base from Pakistan to Ludhiana. At that point and still today Ludhiana was an important destination for manufacturing and industry hub of bicycles and textiles. Slowly they expanded their distribution network and by early 1950s they were supplying components of bicycles throughout India.
In 1954 - Hero Cycles Ltd. moved up the value chain by making a shift from supplying to manufacturing. They started manufacturing handlebars, front forks and chains. In 1956, the Punjab Government issued tender notices for twelve new industrial licenses to make bicycles in Ludhiana. Brijmohan Lall Munjal and his brothers participated in the bid and won the contract. Hero Cycles was registered as a large-scale industrial unit. The capital was partly financed by the Government of Punjab. By 1986 Hero Cycles Limited entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest manufacturers of bicycles in the world.
Before entering into a joint venture with Honda Motors, Dr. Munjal started the Majestic Auto Limited and started to manufacture Hero Majestic Moped. To manufacture motor cycles in 1984 the Hero Group started a joint venture with Hero Honda. Hero Group expanded so big that by 2002 they had sold 86 million bicycles producing 16000 bicycles a day.
Awards and recognition
Awarded Businessman of the Year in 1994 by business magazine Business India
Received the National Award for outstanding contribution to the Development of Indian Small Scale Industry in 1995.
In 1999- Featured in Most Admired CEO List of the magazine Business Barons.
Received The Distinguished Entrepreneurship Award from The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1997.
Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Conferred Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal for Industrial Peace in 2000.
Featured as Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year in 2001.
Received The Lifetime Achievement award for Management from All India Management Association in 2003.
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi conferred him with a Doctrate; degree of Doctors of letters Honoris Causa in October 2004.
Awarded Padma Bhushan in March 2005 for his contribution to Trade and Industry in 2005