Chairman Emeritus

HERO FOREVER

Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal

The founder of the Hero Group was your classic first generation entrepreneur. He was a man who started small, dreamt big and used a combination of grit and perseverance to create one of the country's largest corporate groups and the World's No.1 manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters.

Instinctive from a young age, Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal started his life in the late 1920s, when he walked into a newly opened Gurukul (Indian heritage school) near his home in Kamalia. He was only six years old then.

There began an extraordinary tale of courage and perseverance. Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal began his business story after India gained Independence from British Rule in 1947, when he and his brothers relocated to Ludhiana. The family set up a company that provided people with basic transport (cycles). Three decades later, as India evolved, he added a second crucial chapter - which visualized affordable and technologically superior transport to millions of middle class Indians. The rest is history.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

When Dr. Brijmohan Lall and his brothers started out, there was no concept of organized dealer networks. Companies just produced, and most dealers functioned like traders. Dr. Brijmohan Lall changed the rules of the business by trusting his instincts; introducing business norms that were ahead of their time, and by investing in strategic relationships. Dr. Brijmohan Lall built a series of bonds and networks with hundreds of vendors, dealers and employees. Much like the Japanese keiretsu system, these networks are now the glue that holds the Hero Group together.

Besides bonding with his vendors and dealers, Dr. Brijmohan Lall was personally responsible for kindling a spirit of entrepreneurship amongst his employees, and today, 40 of his former employees are successful entrepreneurs.

A CORPORATE CITIZEN

A frugal upbringing and a value system modeled on the famous Gurukul system - which stresses the sanctity of the teacher-pupil relationship - imbibed in Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal a strong sense of social commitment and responsibility.

There was a special place in his heart for Ludhiana, the city where he grew up. Today, Ludhiana is a modern, bustling city, but Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal had played no mean role in its evolution. Several schools and educational institutions in Ludhiana owe their existence to the Munjal family.

The Ludhiana Stock Exchange owes its existence to Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal's vision as does the Ludhiana Flying Club. He also set up the not-for-profit Dayanand Medical College and Hospital - an institute now rated as one of the best medical colleges in India.

In and around Dharuhera, near the first Hero MotoCorp plant, Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal and his family have left their stamp of philanthropy. The Raman Kant Munjal Foundation - which Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal set up in memory of his eldest son, today runs a higher secondary school and a very modern and well-equipped 100-bed hospital. The group has also adopted numerous villages and provides education, vocational training, drinking water, and improves infrastructure like roads, streetlights and sewerage.