Six india inc members made their debut in the billionaires club this year
Pawan Munjal
$3.65 billion
Rich List rank: 29
Pawan Munjal takes his father’s place in the 2016 Forbes India Rich List (Brijmohan Lall Munjal, the founder of the Hero Group who passed away in November last year, was ranked No. 27 in the 2015 Forbes India Rich List). Despite operating in a highly competitive and volatile auto industry, Hero MotoCorp has managed to retain its dominant position in the two-wheeler segment. During FY16, the country’s largest two-wheeler maker recorded sales of over 6.6 million units (bikes and scooters) in the domestic market. Hero parted ways with its long-term partner and Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company in December 2010 and since then, Pawan Munjal, 62, who was recently appointed chairman, managing director and CEO of Hero MotoCorp, has been instrumental in driving the company’s expansion in foreign markets. Last year, the company opened its first overseas facility in Colombia and in the current fiscal it plans to launch its second overseas plant in Bangladesh. Earlier this year, the billionaire entrepreneur also invested Rs 850 crore to set up a research facility, with over 500 engineers, in Jaipur.
Image: Amit Verma
(This story appears in the 10 November, 2016 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)